Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Corrupted Dimensions
by HiddenLayer5
Summary: Space and time comprise the foundations of the Pokémon world, from which all life and complexity arise. Therefore, an error in these domains can be devastating for the residents that inhabit them. Even worse, what if such an error was fueled by greed and an ancient lust for vengeance?
1. Chapter 1: A New Guild Recruit

_**Author's note:** This is a sequel to my previous story, Protectors of Time, which you can find by clicking my profile. It's not necessary to read it to understand this one however, as this story is self-containing and any continuity with the last one will be explained again. This story is the result of a roleplay between me and DivineChair on Reddit. Enjoy!_

* * *

The guild building stood in the center of Treasure Town, a grand structure made of glass, concrete and wood accents. Above the front entrance, a sign proudly displayed the words "Treasure Town Guild".

A bipedal figure mostly covered in blue fur enters the doorway of the guild. A short look around revealed what seemed to be a large reception desk, with an Eevee sat behind the spacious white platform. Before walking towards it, the Riolu took a steadying breath and whispered some quiet prayer.

"Welcome to the Treasure Town Guild!" the Eevee behind the front desk said, "How can I help you?"

"Ah, hello," the Riolu nodded at the smaller Pokémon and gave her a smile, "I was hoping to join the guild. If that's possible, I mean."

"Oh? What position are you looking to apply for? Do you want to join our expedition teams or the scientific research department?"

"I was really hoping to apply for a position involving the exploration teams." At the mention of exploring, the Pokémon visibly brightened up. His smile grew wide and his eyes, even wider.

"Certainly! If you'll wait in the lobby for a moment, I'll contact the guild's recruitment director, he'll get your registration underway."

As the receptionist finished her sentence, a Fennekin wearing a guild badge came into the door, standing in line behind the Riolu. The Riolu beamed again at the Eevee before sensing another presence behind him. Suddenly awkward, he bowed slightly to the Fennekin before stepping aside.

The Fennekin smiled as she walks up to the desk.

"Hey, Kira.", the Eevee said.

"Julia, how are you? I'm here for the new sensor configuration kits." The Fennekin replied.

"I'm doing fine, and I'll contact the receiving department. Right after helping out this Pokémon here." The Eevee pointed to the Riolu. The Fennekin thanked the receptionist and sat down in the lobby beside the Riolu.

"Hey!" The Fennekin said, smiling at the Riolu. The Riolu gave her a lopsided grin and a little wave while semi-whispering a "hello". He rocked back and forth a little on his feet with his paws behind his back.

"So... what are you here for? I haven't seen you around before!" The Fennekin asked after a silent moment.

"Oh, I'm not from around Treasure Town. I traveled here from the Mist Continent in hopes of joining the guild."

"Really? In that case, welcome to the team!" The Fennekin smiled. The Eevee soon walks to the Riolu with an elderly looking Raticate behind her. "This is Kyle. He's our recruitment director and one of the guild administrators."

The Riolu smiled once more at the Fennekin before turning to the Pokémon that just walked back in.

"Thank you so much and nice to meet you, Mr. Kyle," he said to the Raticate.

"Nice to meet you too.", the Raticate said in a formal but friendly tone, "As our lovely receptionist mentioned, I am the recruitment director and one of the general administrators. Now, if you want to join, we have some paperwork to get through before I can get you started. Could I get you to fill out this form, and can I see your government issued ID card please?" The Raticate handed the Riolu a tablet, which was already displaying an electronic registration form.

The Riolu reached for a pocket in the the satchel slung over his body. After rooting around for a few seconds, he pulled out a card.

"I'm from a different continent, so I hope this suffices," he said as he handed his ID over to Kyle. His attention then turned to the tablet handed to him which he began to, or attempted to, fill out promptly.

"As long you have an ID card issued by a Pokémon Union member region. This one looks good. Do you need help with the registration form?"

While the Riolu was filling the form, the Fennekin beside her was called by the receptionist. She grabbed her work bag and walked into a door in the lobby labelled: "Restricted Area. Guild staff and authorized Pokémon only." The Fennekin walked out after a few minutes, pushing a small cart with her nose. The cart had numerous wires and metallic boxes contained in blue colored bags and what appeared to be tamper-evident seals.

"That's a relief. Hmm, I think I understand what I need to fill out now, though, but thank you." The Riolu returned to completing the form before handing the tablet back to Kyle. "Is that it?"

"Yes! You are now registered as a guild recruit! If it's okay with you, you will start tomorrow on your one-month trial period, during which we will gauge your performance and if all goes well, upgrade you to a permanent guild member. I'll arrange to give you a tour of the facility. One final thing, are you planning on staying in the guild accommodations, or what is called live-on-site employment, or do you have your own home already?"

The Riolu rubbed a paw on the back of his head, "I was really hoping live in the housing provided by the guild, if that's not a problem. I'm for sure, though, ready to start at any time! As soon as I'm needed!"

"Of course! I'll see to it that you have a prepared room within the hour."

"Actually..." the Fennekin said behind the Riolu, "I could use some help loading this shipment of control circuits into the hovercraft, and I'll be happy to give you a tour of the guild afterwards!"

He turns quickly to voice of the Fennekin. "Of course!" the Riolu responded immediately. "Here, let me lend you some help with the cart." He suddenly remembered something and looked back to the older Raticate. "Thank you so much, Mr. Kyle!" He said before looking back at the fox Pokémon.

"Thank you!" The Fennekin said, "I only need help getting it into the hovercraft, but I'd be happy to give a tour of the the guild's Temporal Observatory where I work!"

The Riolu's ears perked up as he, once again, beamed with excitement. "I've only heard of the Temporal Observatory! You must be a genius to work there!" he said, almost tripping over his words. "My brother used to write to me about all the amazing things he saw, but he especially loved Treasure Town."

The Fennekin smiled, "I wouldn't say I'm a genius, just a Pokémon who is interested in in how the flow of time works. These electronics we're bringing back to the observatory is actually for upgrading our temporal sensors to combined temporal sensor and interfaces, since the law now allows legitimate research organizations to use those. Come on, the hovercraft is this way" the Fennekin pointed toward the front door.

The blue Pokémon looked amazed, if also perplexed, by all of the specific details about the sensors as he followed the Fennekin to the hovercraft with boundless enthusiasm. "By the way, just wanting to be sure, but I think the Eevee from earlier called you Kira, right? If you're okay with me knowing your name, I mean. Or if that's only for your friends, do you want me to call you something else?"

"Yes! Kira is my name, what is yours?" The duo walked up to a parked hovercraft, a flying machine about two metres in diameter. With a few taps of her tablet, Kira opened the cargo hold if the hovercraft. She pushed the cart up a ramp that had extended from the cargo hold, before opening the sliding door to the cabin. "Hop in!"

Walking excitedly behind her, the Riolu replied, "I'm Yuri. Small town name, I know. I used to be embarrassed about it, but it's grown on me over time." Something then occurred to him. "I don't think I've ever ridden a hovercraft before. As I said earlier, small town. How does it work? What does it do?" He looked up at Kira with curiosity.

"I'm from a small town too, a really small one. A hovercraft is what we use to get around in the city. It basically floats in the air kind of like a Shaymin."

"That's cool. You said you're from a small town too? How long have you lived here?"

"For about... Twenty years now. I came here when I was five. What about you? How old are you?"

"I got here just a few days ago. I'm nineteen years-," he suddenly stopped as Kira scanned her guild badge on the control panel of the hovercraft, and with a push of a lever, the entire machine lifted straight up off the ground with both Pokémon and cargo in tow. "I don't know what I was expecting when you said it floats, but this is much cooler!"

"It's based off the process that allow Shaymin to fly, I think it's called a gravitational slipstream."

The two Pokémon flew toward the edge of town, to a white, roughly cube shaped building with a much simpler and more utilitarian design than the guild building. An elevated walkway connected the building to a tall, octagonal tower structure.

"All right, we're here!", Kira said as she opened the door to the hovercraft. Outside, a sign above the front entrance read "Treasure Town Guild Temporal Observatory and Research Center". Beside the door was a red warning sign that said "WARNING: Temporal technology in use at this facility. Restricted area, enter with direct authorization only. Trespassers will face criminal prosecution."

Yuri took a small note pad out of his satchel and wrote "gravitational slipstream" before hopping out of the aircraft after the Fennekin. He took a look around the immediate area outside of the observatory and read the red sign.

"I am allowed to follow, right?" he asked Kira with some hesitation to his voice.

Kira chuckled when she noticed Yuri reading the warning sign, "Just to be sure... By the power vested in me as a certified temporal mechanics researcher at the Treasure Town Guild, I hereby authorize you to enter the temporal observatory. In seriousness though, the sign is just a formality, and as long as someone who works at the temporal observatory let's you, you're good!"

Kira walked over to the door and scanned her guild badge. The sliding glass doors opened, but only to a small room blocked off by another set of doors with another lock, beyond which was a small lobby. The Riolu, feeling more secure now, made an over-exaggerated curtsy motion in response. "Well, I shall do your bidding," he said then skipped over to where Kira was. "Do you require assistance in the pushing of the cart, m'lady?"

"Sure, if you want.", Kira said laughing while she opened the second door.

"Kira? That you", a Vulpix called as she walked into the lobby.

"Yeah, it's me.", Kira said, "Yuri, this is my fellow researcher and actually step sister... long story... Leslie. Leslie, this is Yuri, our newest guild recruit."

Yuri gave a smile to the Vulpix as Kira introduced him. "I promise that I am here on official business and not trespassing!" he said, giving a sort of mock salute. He then wrote a quick note "Leslie- Vulpix, Kira's step sister" with a determined look.

"Did you get the upgrade kits?!", Leslie said excitedly.

"Yes, we did.", Kira said, motioning toward the cart beside the Riolu.

"Yes! We're going to beat the Expedition Society!", Leslie said, jumping with excitement.

"Beat them in upgrading our sensors?", Kira asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah! Their temporal department was trash talking us all last night on our shared chat, saying that they will be the first ones in the world to have TSI's instead of just temporal sensors, but we'll show them! Come on! You have the engineering certification, let's get upgrading!"


	2. Chapter 2: Technological Upgrade

Yuri leaned over to the Fennekin and whispered, "Did I just unwittingly betray my Pokémon on my first day? How could you do this?" He then grinned widely and made another note which simply read "traitor".

"Well, I guess that depends on where your loyalties lie. Personally, I've never been too into it, but it's part of guild culture. Once the supervisors leave, the inter-guild trash talk begins.", Kira said, chuckling.

"We're trying to get Kira to socialize more.", Leslie said, "Yuri, want to learn a thing or two about Temporal Sensor maintenance before your formal guild tour? Kira would like to show you around!", Kira smiled, rolled her eyes, and nodded.

"Yes, please! Matter of fact, I wouldn't mind learning even three things." Yuri laughed at his own attempt at humor before settling down again. However, he did start to dance a little in excitement.

"To the laboratory!", Leslie shouted as she ran off and up the stairs. Kira led Yuri into the elevator.

The laboratory was a pristine white room with a multitude of computers and other electronic equipment. At one of the benches were eight identical metal cylinders, each a meter long and bearing translucent stripes cut lengthwise into the metal casing. A Sylveon was already waiting for Kira, along with Leslie.

"This is Ella, our head of research and, aside from me, one of the only engineers authorized to modify the sensors." Kira said, "Ella, meet Yuri, our new guild recruit!"

"Nice to meet you!" Yuri said while jotting down a quick flurry of notes. His attention was pulled to the array of science-y setup of the room and he takes a few seconds to really glance around. "There is so much going on in here! Is this where you work, Kira?"

"Yeah, this is where we spend most of of our time, except Ella, she gets her own office now that she's been promoted to the boss.", Kira joked as she opened a drawer and pulled out a toolbox. She grabbed one of the metal boxes from the cart and walked over to the leftmost sensor. Ella did the same, focusing on the rightmost sensor. "This is the new sensor controller that will enable TSI, that's 'temporal sensor and interface' functionality. Fun fact, temporal interfaces, things that have the ability to change the time stream at their most basic level, is already built into the sensors to improve their, well, sensing functionality, but the function of the interfaces is limited because the government prohibited modifying the time stream. Now that it's been allowed for research purposes and to correct any errors in the time stream as they appear, these new controllers will unlock that ability. Think of it as unleashing the miniature, computer controlled Dialga in these gadgets!"

"All that power, such a small machine in comparison." Yuri followed Kira and tried to peek inside the toolbox. "What kind of things are you looking for with update? How do you know if there's an error? This job seems so..." he paused for a second, "sophisticated!"

The Riolu tried to take a closer look at the sensor Kira and he were in front of. "Why do you need eight of them?"

"We'll perform a full suite of diagnostics before these things go into service, we'll catch any errors before they become problems. You'd be surprised by the amount of power these things require. The generators we have in the basement make your standard electric-type Pokémon seem like button-cell batteries.", Kira replied, eyes focused on her work, "When they're installed in the sensor tower and connected to a single control system, their scanning ranges merge together to form a complex network that is orders of magnitude more precise than the eight sensors by themselves."

"The Expedition society only have two!", Leslie interrupted, "So we already have them beat in that department!"

As Kira spoke, she gently unscrewed the bottom cover of one of the sensors, and carefully pulled out a mesmerizingly complex but orderly mesh of transparent columns and metallic pieces that formed what could be described as a cylindrical stack of hollow pyramid structures, wrapping around a central, cylindrical core. This mesh was divided into two parts, and in the middle, was connected by colorful wires to a metal box that looked identical to the controllers in the cart, among other components that reminded one of the props in a science fiction movie. Kira gently disconnected the wires and uninstalled the old controller, placing the new one in its place.

Yuri nodded fervently as Kira spoke despite understanding very little. He took the chance to write down a couple words and make a quick sketch of some of the things he saw her handling. After he was satisfied with his notes, the Riolu observed the more intricate parts of the sensor. "The wires almost remind me of a mystery dungeon," he said, mesmerized. "All the complexity, beauty, and, well, mystery is so intriguing. Despite the differences in what you two and the Expedition society do, don't you think that it's at least similar in that respect?"

"I'd say so, them and us share a desire to discover the undiscovered, to lift the mystery from this amazing world of ours. We do it in different ways, and uncover different things, but that's what matters. There would be no discovery if both organizations did the exact same things in the exact same ways. There's no real hostility between us, only some lighthearted jokes.", Kira said as she closed up the first sensor and moved on to the next one.

"I wish that everyone could see life the same way," Yuri added somewhat wistfully. He watched Kira quietly for a while longer. "Is it okay if I look at the other equipment around the room? I promise not to touch anything."

"Sure, other than the sensors there isn't anything too dangerous or sensitive in here.", Kira said.

After hearing Kira's affirmative, the Riolu hurried over to some of the strange looking equipment he saw earlier, notepad in hand. He waited for a while before systematically stopping before batches of machines to draw small pictures of them, document his thoughts, and on occasion, just stand in silence with his eyes closed.

"And... done!", Ella shouted in the background, "Leslie, I want you to take a picture and send the most pretentious, in-your-face message about finishing the sensor upgrade to the chat!"

Hearing Ella's exclamation, Yuri hurried back towards the sensors. "I'd love to hear said message," he said as he looked at what Kira and Ella had now apparently completed.

Unsurprisingly, he had no idea.

"How's this...", Leslie began, "Don't mind us, just admiring the first TSI to exist in the world, and the second, third, all the way up the the eighth!"

"Ouch. They might need a Rawst berry for that!" the Riolu said. "By the way, what is this group chat I keep hearing about?"

"It's nothing special, just a 'hangout' room for the various temporal researchers for the world, hosted on a high-security server because otherwise the higher-ups get too paranoid about information leakage. It's more of a forum that updates in real time than a text chat.", Kira said as she handed the Riolu her tablet. The message window looked similar to a regular text message thread, with the title of "Temporal Interface Legalization Day!". The community was called "Dialga Wannabes".

"This is very, um, self aware," the Riolu said. He starts to read some of the messages before stopping. "Am I allowed to see this? Not that I understand the more specific details of... temporal research. Or temporal anything, for that matter."

Yuri handed the tablet back.

"We're not allowed to say anything under NDA in that community anyway, so go ahead.", Kira assured.

"NDA, yes." Yuri, once again tried to scroll through the chat messages. A few things manage to catch his attention that he took a minute or two to read through. Meanwhile, the researchers cleaned up their work space.

"Trying to talk to all these Pokémon seems exhausting."

"This was a special occasion, though. Can't blame us for getting excited. It's usually a lot more relaxed.", Kira said.

Yuri laughed a little. "I guess you're right." He handed the tablet back to the Fennekin.

"So, I guess I'm not needed here for the time being. What do you say I give you a tour of the guild?", Kira asked.

"I'm all for it! Thanks, once again, for showing me around," Yuri replied.


	3. Chapter 3: It's official!

Back at the guild building, Kyle was waiting for Kira and Yuri.

"Ah, Yuri! Congratulations, your registration has been finalized! We went through all the security procedures, it checks out!", Kyle said cheerfully, "I am happy to present to you your guild badge, it will serve as your identifier for all guild related activities! Now, best of luck on your trial period!"

Yuri was given a circular white badge with golden wings.

Yuri grinned as he received the badge from the Raticate. "Thank you so much. I promise to not disappoint!"

The Riolu clutched the item to his chest and whispers a few soft words to himself. "I've been waiting for this day for a very long time," he finally said aloud, face still lit with joy.

"Now, let's get you acquainted with the place!", Kira said, "You probably know this already, but you have to scan your badge to get through any secured doors, like the one to the staff area.", she motioned toward the door marked restricted area, "Go on, try it out!"

"Here goes," Yuri muttered as he walked up to the door and held his new badge up to be scanned as he had observed Kira doing earlier.

When the door opened, he felt a wave of pride wash over him as he turned back to the other Pokémon. "It's official!"

"It sure is!", Kyle affirms.

"Fun fact...", Kira added as she walked Yuri through the door, "Back in the early days of the guild, by which I mean three hundred years ago, they used to 'authenticate' guild members by having a sentry identify them by their paw prints. Needless to say it was more than inaccurate at times, and apparently recruits often got pretty badly crewed out for doing a poor job. Aren't you glad we have an automated system now?"

The Riolu burst into laughter. "You're kidding, right? Please tell me that was a joke." He stopped to think for a while. "How could they possibly think that would work? What if there were multiple Pokémon of the same species? Would they just shrug and guess?"

"That's what it said in the guild database, which by the way you now have a higher level of access to than the general public. Check the historical archives, there were some pretty hilarious things they did back then, but yeah, like I said it was laughably inaccurate. The first guild master, back when there was a guild master and not a much less cool sounding 'council of administrators', was apparently pretty eccentric, and his assistant was apparently pretty obsessive about rules. When you have an institution as old as this, the history pages make for an interesting read."

"If you want me to show you around the database, I can certainly do that, but if you want to check it out yourself just log into the guild's internal website. You'll receive a message to create an account very soon."

Yuri gave Kira an awkward smile, "Yeah, about that. I'm pretty sure you've noticed that I'm not the most," he paused, "tech savvy 'mon out there. Is there anywhere around town where I could purchase a device suitable for my needs?"

"There is a mall just outside the guild, I'm sure you will find something that suits your needs. A small tablet will be enough, just something for communication and paperwork if you are joining the exploration teams. You will be given more advanced equipment as needed for expeditions. Now, regarding the teams, I'm sure you've seen the movies where guilds consist of many two-Pokemon teams, each with their own name and who always goes on adventures together. That's a little outdated. We now have a more flexible system where guild members are allocated to missions as needed. You can certainly specify if you prefer to work with certain Pokemon, but mixing up your partner choices is encouraged in order to create a more unified guild environment, instead of different teams only hanging out with each other and often trying to compete with other teams. Nowadays, teams only last as long as a particular mission. For your first few missions, you'll probably be given direct assignments, usually teamed up with more experienced explorers that can help you get the hang of things, but after that you can browse through expeditions and form teams as you please. You still will be directly given assignments, especially if it's urgent or if it's a guild-wide thing, but that will only take up part of your working time."

"Alright, mall outside of guild. Changing teams," Yuri repeated as he wrote it down. "How will I find out who I'm working with? Will that also be sent to the tablet?"

"Once you get a tablet you can download the guild's software. You'll be able to sign up for expeditions and receive notifications and messages. Anyway,", Kira pointed to the lounge in front of them, "this is the common area of the guild, and the living areas are down that left side hall.", the Fennekin pointed again, "so, quarters, mess hall, all the basic stuff. Down the opposite hall are the operational areas, so offices, meeting rooms, and equipment storage. Where do you want to check out first?"

The Riolu contemplated for a moment. "I think I wouldn't mind visiting the living area first," he finally said.

"All right! You'll have to use your badge though since I don't live there. Do you know what room you've been assigned yet?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Yuri admitted a bit embarrassed. "I don't recall it being mentioned and I don't have a way to check electronically, so maybe a tour somewhere would better suffice?" He shrugs and looks at Kira for guidance.

"I can show you around the common areas and the hallways, but I imagine it's just like any standard apartment.", Kira admitted.

"Let's go to the other places first," Yuri said. "I think it's also probably a good time to mention that the past few weeks have been my first time out of my hometown," he added slowly, "so a lot of this is new to me. I really appreciate you showing me around."

"I'm just glad I could help.", Kira said cheerfully, "Honestly, now that I think about it, showing you around the guild kind of reminds me of how Leslie showed me around her house when she... when she found me."

"Found? As in just happened to come across you?" the Riolu asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Yeah... my family was killed by organized crime affiliated maniacs when I was five months old. Leslie found me trying to dig and live in a little den in the forest. Her parents adopted me."

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," Yuri said quietly, "but I see why you and Leslie are so close."

"It's all right. I've kept it a secret for most of my life but... I don't know, maybe it's just me, but occasionally talking about it kind of helps. Anyway, here is what I call the hall of deliberations. It's where the conference rooms are.", Kira points to a hallway branching off from the main operational corridor.

Yuri smiled. "Seems like a pretty important place for pretty important discussions."

"I'm not technically an explorer, but I'm told that exploration teams hold all their briefings in those rooms before they go somewhere, I also occasionally come here to help an exploration team when they need someone with temporal mechanics knowledge. Guild meetings are also held there from time to time, so it's important for you to know where they are. Next, we have some more labs for the various research the guild conducts. Usually you don't need to go in there by yourself, but since we are a science and expedition guild now, explorers often need to work with the science departments. Finally, there's the supply rooms. There is a system for signing out equipment, and after that usually you can just go in and retrieve them before the expedition. Some stuff, though need to be approved first. For example, if an exploration team ever needs to borrow temporal technology, they would need to clear that with us and one of us usually needs to go with them, because by law you need to be licensed to use temporal technology. Oh, and the guild building is, for lack of a better word, stacked. All the floors have pretty much the same layout, so for example, if the meeting room isn't on the first floor, it's in the same general location on another floor."

The Riolu nodded as Kira explained the layout of the guild, taking care to write down important details in his notebook. He looked inside almost every room they pass by, trying to get acquainted with all of the areas that should be important in the coming times.

"Do accompany teams into dungeons too?" he asked.

"Sometimes. I've been on a few expeditions, but not nearly as much as an actual explorer. Personally, I like to relax with a nice spreadsheet and some temporal data" the Fennekin said, chuckling, "Oh, speaking of relaxing, if you find that you've been doing too much of it for your taste, there are battle gyms in the guild too, if you're fond of the traditional way Pokemon pass the time. You'll never find me in one of those because I don't see the point, but some explorers like to keep their skills sharp with friendly battles against each other."

"Ooh! Is that also included in the tour? That is, if you don't mind?" Yuri's interest piqued at the thought of friendly battle.

"Sure, I can show you around, just don't expect me to battle you.", Kira chuckled, "Want to see it next?"

Yuri clapped his paws twice, almost itching with anticipation. "I would love to, but I also really don't want to get carried away or distracted," he said as he forced a smile. Almost immediately afterwards, he changed his mind, "a couple of minutes won't hurt, right? Just a glance. I'll have time to really take a look after I'm settled."

This was more of him trying to convince himself than anything else.

"Sure, it's in the basement, I assume because they need to contain the force Pokemon knocking each other out for fun.", Kira joked, "Wait... I just realized something. We literally have 'underground' fights here!"

Yuri turned to Kira with wide eyes and his mouth pulled into a straight line. He was left speechless until his amusement finally got the better of him. "Why would you say that? That's all I'm going to able to think about the entire rest of the day."

"Just a thought! Anyway, here it is!", Kira said as the two disembarked from the elevator. The hallway led to several square rooms secured by heavy doors. A sign said the following: "Please activate the force field to a gym before using. This is to prevent earth shattering moves from actually shattering the earth. To reduce the risk of long-term injury, avoid fainting opponents or use reviver seeds."

Yuri quickly read the sign and jots down "earth shattering moves" in his notebook. "So this is where the battles happen," he said aloud to no one in particular. He walked down the hallway, hoping to catch glimpses of other Pokemon in the rooms. "Is it possible to observe or is it participate only?" He asked Kira. "The facilities look so nice."

"I assume you can observe if the participants let you. Like I said, I have little to no experience with this."

"Ah, okay. Where to next?" Yuri took one more longing look around the hall before giving his full attention back to Kira.

"I think the hangar is the final important item you have to see, and after that it's up to you! Let's go, it's where the hovercrafts are!"

"To the hangar!" the Riolu exclaimed. "That's how you do it, right?" Once again, he laughed at his own joke.

"Only if you're Leslie", Kira joked.

The hanger was in the back of the building, and consisted of large a concrete room with a number of parked hovercraft, with a large gate that leads outside.

Yuri faked a hurt expression as he followed Kira to the hangar. "If I yell something, will it echo in here? Asking for a friend, of course," he asked as he observed the vast space of the room.

"Probably! You can certainly try!", Kira said, "Either way, that concludes the official whirlwind tour, but if you're curious about anything else I can guide you around, or you can explore by yourself now that you have your badge! Just be ready to receive your first assignment tomorrow morning, I recommend asking Kyle what your room number is and getting a good night sleep, but hey, it's only early evening! Oh, and... do you want me to tell you what to expect in mystery dungeons or would you'd rather it be a surprise? Hint, it's not like the movies."

"Hello Treasure Town!" Yuri shouted as loud as can into the hangar and was quite satisfied with the faint echo that bounced back and around the room. He wrote a note for it.

When he finished, he turned back to Kira, "I think I'll just take a look around, stop by that mall you mentioned earlier. I would, however, love to be surprised when I go on my first assignment tomorrow. My brother used to write me about his own adventures, so I hope that it's as exciting as he said it is!" He rocked on his feet, a little jittery with excitement. "I know I've said this a hundred times, but thanks for the tour!"

"You're welcome! I was glad to have a change of pace today! Though if I can ask one thing, I'd appreciate it if you would keep my family history to yourself. Not everyone at the guild knows yet. Other than that, I wholeheartedly wish you good luck, and again, welcome to the team!"

"I wouldn't dream of it, my mouth is sealed," the Riolu promised to Kira, one paw raised to his chest. He waved in goodbye and headed back to find Kyle.


	4. Chapter 4: The First Expedition

After Yuri obtained a tablet, he reviewed all of the messages that were sent to him by the guild, including a message to simply come to a pre-assigned briefing rooms at 9:00 the next morning. The briefing room was already active when he showed up, even though he was early.

"Ah! Here he is, our latest recruit!" Kyle said to the rest of the exploration team. "Everyone, this if Yuri, he will be embarking on his first mission today! Yuri, as your first assignment, I though I'd place you with one of our more experienced teams. You will be helping out in what we call the Demystification Project, where we take high resolution trackers into a mystery dungeon and collect data on how the layout changes with time. The goal is to eventually create a mathematical model for the spatial flux that each mystery dungeon is in!"

"Yes sir!" Yuri said in response. He walked further into the briefing room, waving in greeting to the Pokémon he passed by.

Kyle stepped away from the speaker position, and a Dragonite stepped up. Apparently the assumed leader of the group, he outlined the mission in detail.

"If there are no further questions, let's get to the hangar! The trackers are already waiting for us!" the Dragonite finally announced.

Yuri followed the group out of the room. He kept to himself mostly, but offered a friendly smile and a word or two to anyone who spoke to him first.

As the group made their way down to the hangar, he wrote a few notes about the briefing down in his notebook.

The short flight to the mystery dungeon was filled with excited chatter, mostly long-time friends catching up and making small talk, but occasionally a Pokémon did speak to the Riolu, if only to wish him a good day.

"Yuri, is it?" the Dragonite approached the Riolu as they exited the hovercraft. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jennings. Kyle asked me to be your guide for today's mission."

"Nice to meet you!" Yuri said to the Dragonite with a wide smile on his face. "This is my first time going into a dungeon, so I hope to learns lots."

"Just stay close, I'll show you the basics. Now, what do you know about mystery dungeons?"

The Riolu paused to think. "Well, I know that the layout changes every time you enter, but that's about it," he admits.

"That's correct! Now, if it was thirty or so years ago, I would be warning you about hostile Pokémon in mystery dungeons that will attack you at a hair trigger, but fortunately that is no longer the case in most mystery dungeons. However, even with current technology, it is still extremely easy to get lost with no means of communication with the outside world, as even if you left a literal trail of plain seeds the chances of you being able to follow it back diminishes as time goes on. Sometimes you'll turn around and find that the path you took has completely changed. Our job today is to actually work toward predicting the layout changes to make future exploring easier."

A shiver of mixed fear and excitement tingled Yuri's body. "What happens if you really do get lost, though?"

"Well, if you get lost with little to no supplies and no one outside knows you're lost, let's just say it won't bode well. Now, the more popular dungeons are actually sort of tourist destinations now and they will have call points installed that automatically send distress signals to the nearest expedition organization, the Treasure Town Guild for example, but if you're going into one of the uninhabited dungeons, it's imperative that at least one other Pokémon go with you, and that you sign out at the guild beforehand, specifying where you are going and when you expect to be back. An alert is automatically issued if you're not back by the time you specified, and your badge has a location tracker that pings the guild's servers with your location every few minutes whenever you're out on a job, though this too often falls apart as soon as you enter a mystery dungeon. Your badge also has a built in distress beacon, but any kind of wireless communication in mystery dungeons is intermittent at best."

Yuri wrote some of the information down, nodding slightly. "That makes sense. Is this one of the more uninhabited dungeons?"

"It's actually completely uninhabited, but it's very small, only three levels. We use a relatively simple dungeon like this to refine our data models. This dungeon, Limestone Cave, is almost like the Treasure Town Guild's go-to 'test dungeon' where we do research. Oh, and if you're interested, there is another ongoing series of missions focused on installing special signal relays in mystery dungeons and enable easy communication with the outside world. This one already has those relays so getting lost isn't that risky."

"Limestone Cave. Special signal relays," Yuri repeated, almost in wonder. "Just for clarification, when we take the trackers in here, they're supposed to map the changes in the layout, right?"

"Yes. We're splitting up into two Pokémon teams and walking through the dungeon. You're going with me."

"Understood. Is it just going to be us on this team?" Not skipping a beat, Yuri looked up at Jennings, "by the way, you are very tall."

"I'll take that as a complement, and yes, I am confident that with some guidance you can hold your own in this expedition. Now, let's move out!"

Yuri beamed up at the Dragonite. "I'm all set and ready for guidance! To the mystery dungeon!"

The two walked according to the route Jennings had planned out, each carrying a position tracker. One notable time where they could perceive the layout changing was when they ran into one of the teams, walked in the opposite direction, and immediately came face to face with them again.

Yuri made an effort to wave vivaciously both times the teams ran into each other, even calling out, "There they are again!" He followed around behind Jennings, buzzing with enthusiasm and occasionally pointing out something really obvious or trying to sketch things in his notebook without falling behind.

"So I saw Kira walking you around the guild yesterday." Jennings commented, "Have you met her before?"

Hearing the other Pokémon ask a question, the Riolu turned to listen. "Oh, Kira? No, we only met yesterday as I registered for the guild. I helped bring some things into the Temporal Observatory and even got to look at the Temporal Sensors and watched the creation of the first eight TSI, though I can't remember what the last part of the acronym was, but it was very cool and important! She also showed me around the guild and I got to see the gyms, which were amazing and have force fields!" He stopped abruptly. "Sorry, I just get really excited sometimes, but no, we met for the first time yesterday," he concluded.

"Seems like you made a friend! Between you and me, Kira used to be super stoic and antisocial. I'll just say that something bad happened in her past that she used to keep secret, but ever since she started opening up about it not that long ago she's become more outgoing."

"Is that so? I would've never guessed. She was super friendly and really helped me out!"

"Give Kira my best the next time you see her.", Jennings said.

After a while, all of the required data had been collected, and the group gathered by the hovercraft.

"That. Was. Amazing!" Yuri all but shouted when they exited the dungeon and headed back to meet the rest of the group. "I don't think I've ever done something so exhilarating in my life. Was it like this the first time you went into a mystery dungeon too, Jennings?"

"I was about as excited as you were. If you want, I'm doing another mission today installing those signal relays, want to help out?"

The Riolu made the most pleading expression he can. "Can I? Are you sure? I'd love to help," he said in a single breath.

"Sure. Meet us in briefing room 107 at 1 o'clock today!"

"Thank you a hundred times! I'll see you later on today, then!"


	5. Chapter 5: Emergency

Several days passed with Yuri completing missions assigned to him, before finally being set free to choose his own tasks. Two more weeks later, he successfully completed his trial period and was accepted as a permanent guild member, an occasion he celebrated with Kira, Leslie and Ella, among other guild members he had befriended.

Not long after, he was awakened by several loud chimes from the PA system, before he heard the voice of the receptionist: "Emergency! All explorer class guild members report to the staff common area immediately!"

"Huh? What's this?" Yuri was jolted awake. Still tired, he rubbed his eyes drowsily until he heard the words more clearly over the speaker. Suddenly alert, he quickly grabbed his bag, tosses in his daily essentials, and booked it towards the common area.

The sun was barely peeking from the horizon, as visible from windows in the common area. Yuri found himself amid a crowd of drowsy and confused explorers. Concerned chatter filled the room. He looked around for familiar faces, but with the lower light, crowded room, and slightly sleepy thoughts, he was unsuccessful. Waiting for any sort of news or announcement, he checked his tablet to see if something had been sent out.

"May I have your attention please!", Yuri heard a familiar voice over the intercom. He quickly realized it was Ella, the Sylveon who was the leader of the Temporal Observatory. He could see Kira and Leslie beside her.

"There has been a temporal anomaly.", Ella continued, "At 0500 hours today, the Temporal Observatory detected a local destabilization of the time stream, which we now know was the result of a covarient temporal distortion at the top of the Mount Bristle mystery dungeon, which is a tourist destination near Treasure Town. Around the same time, several calls were made to the emergency services, reporting injuries of sightseers, tourists, and local business owners. The calls mentioned that thin veins of distorted space have appeared in the air, low to the ground, which is evidence of the speed of time destabilizing relative to space. Many Pokémon, we estimate at least thirty, were injured, perhaps a few were killed by the temporal sheer forces and radiation associated with the temporal distortions..."

The Sylveon was interrupted by one of the rescuers, "Excuse me, what's temporal sheer?"

"Oh, temporal sheer is what is formed when the speed of time is different between two points in space. As an object moves from one time frame to the other, parts that have crossed the boundary will travel at a different speed, physically stressing the object and often causing it to rip itself apart." Ella quickly explained before continuing, "Our mission today is to evacuate the mystery dungeon, and if we can, dissipate the temporal distortions. Temporal researchers Kira, Leslie and myself will be accompanying you and be responsible for detecting temporal distortions as they can be extremely difficult to see with the naked eye. We will need someone to carry the combined temporal sensor and temporal interface, and we'll need an electric-type Pokémon to wear a bio-electricity transfer device in order to power the equipment. Jennings, Tim, can you two handle that?", Yuri saw the Dragonite and a nearby Emolga nod, "Other than that, all Dragon, Fire and Fighting type explorers will be called upon to form the rescue team. Due to their physiology, they are able to better resist the effects of an abnormal time stream, if only slightly. Everyone else will stay at either the guild or temporal observatory, and provide the team with updates as they come in. Finally... be prepared for whatever we may find. It won't be a pleasant sight."

Yuri let out a shaky breath before inhaling again, attempting to strengthen his resolve. He knew he was going to have to be brave to help. He took a quick note on his notepad and, not wanting to get lost again in the crowd, walked straight to Jennings.

"Hey.", Jennings said, his usual cheerful attitude gone, "This is pretty serious stuff, isn't it?"

"Yes," is all Yuri could manage to say in response. "How will we be told when and where to go?" he asked, remembering his original purpose for coming this way. "Have you ever had to deal with something like this before? Does it happen often?"

"Only once, and it got to the point where the Pokémon Security Service got involved. In situations like this, there will usually be five or six hovercrafts mobilizing. Don't fret about which one you're assigned to, just get on the first one with empty seats."

The Riolu nodded. "I guess I will be heading to hangar immediately then. Thanks for the information," he said as he gives a brief wave and a small, forced smile. He turns to make way towards the hovercrafts.

The atmosphere of the hovercraft was deathly. Hardly anyone spoke to each other. Yuri soon realized that Kira had taken a seat beside him.

"Kira," Yuri said, a little surprised. He then shook his head. "Sorry, I'm just a bit jumpy, but I'm glad to see a friendly face," he whispered to the Fennekin next to him.

"Hey...", Kira uttered, "Guess you heard. Hard to believe that there's actually a temporal anomaly going on right now. I mean, I've learned about it in detail at the science institute, I've experienced one before, and that incident was caused by a bunch of organized criminals, yet I'm still taken aback."

"How... bad will it be?" Yuri cringed at the implications of the question, but he was dying to know. "Since you've experienced it before, and all." The Riolu looked down at the ground, tracing the shape of his feet with his eyes.

"Temporal anomalies often emit temporal radiation which can damage organic tissue, that's why almost every Pokémon here are types that can cope with it better. You already learned about temporal shear forces from Ella, so the moral of the story is don't touch them and best not to be near them. I once saw someone's paw start bleeding the instant it very slightly brushed against a temporal distortion, and... Leslie... she once almost got killed by one..."

"Oh," Yuri trailed off. He closed his eyes, fighting the wave a nausea that washed over him.

"I understand that you don't want to see that kind of stuff. I don't either. You don't have to be in the first wave of rescuers or the ones tending to critically injured Pokémon. It's best to leave that to more experienced guild members anyway. If it's any consolation, from what I read most of the injuries were from the force of the temporal anomalies throwing Pokémon across the dungeon rooms and knocking stuff over, not from direct contact with temporal anomalies."

"Don't get me wrong, I want to help as much as possible. I just," there was a break in his train of thought, "I feel bad thinking about how scared they are, you know. Many of them might be tourists just wanting to have fun and all of a sudden, everything just goes wrong for them. Not to mention the Pokémon who have been injured. I guess it's just the scarier side to mystery dungeons."

"Mount Bristle is almost like a theme park now. It's been turned into one of those places where Pokémon go to get the 'mystery dungeon experience' without joining a guild, you know, the changing layout and the maze-like structure, and the views from the top of the mountain. It's been rated as one of the more stable dungeons in the Treasure Town metro area, right behind Beach Cave and Drenched Bluff... I have no idea how this could have happened, mystery dungeons are mysterious, but time isn't supposed to break inside of them."

Yuri nodded in silence. "It's so strange, the way the world is sometimes," he finally mumbled after some time. He pulled out his notebook and began flipping through it. Inside were various notes, some drawings, dried plants, and a couple of old photographs. One of the pictures in particular, Yuri placed his paw over and whispers a few faint words.

"Huh?" Kira asked, tilting her head, "What is that?"

"This," Yuri smiled a little. "It's a picture of my brother and me the day he left to become an explorer. He's kinda my hero. Whenever I feel like I need some extra strength, I just imagine that it's him doing the tough thing and I try to do the same."

"He looks both excited and brave in that photo! Where is he now?"

"Nobody knows. All of his personal belongings were just delivered to our home one day. No one had heard from him in months," Yuri sighed, taking one last longing look at the picture before before closing the book. "I just hope he's okay, wherever he is."

"I'm... sorry. I know how much it hurts to lose a family member, even to potentially lose them.

Yuri smiled knowingly and in a somewhat lowered voice whispered, "you're a real inspiration too, Kira."

"Thank you. I wish your brother the best, if he's out there, I'm sure he's wondering about you too. He would be proud if he saw you here.", Kira smiled, "You know, you're lucky you got all his stuff back. A pink bow my parents gave me is all I have to remember my family by."

"Do you ever think about them?" Yuri asked, though a little hesitant. "If you're okay with talking about. You don't have to if you're not."

"Honestly, I was never sure what I should do. I used to feel guilty that I kept missing my real parents, I thought I was being ungrateful to my step-parents for adopting me out of the blue and taking care of me so well. But in short, yes. I think about them every day. I wish I could find out if I have any other biological relatives. I paid for one of those DNA ancestry traces once, and it turned up empty."

"I heard from Jennings that you've grown a lot since you first joined. I'm sure your folks would be proud of you too," the Riolu mentioned. "I also had no idea that DNA testing was available to the public. Did you happen to find anything else out with it?"

"Yeah, actually. Apparently I'm part shiny.", Kira said, trying to lighten the mood, "I carry the pigment modifier gene on one chromosome, which means even though I don't display the color changes, it's more likely that my offspring will be shiny. That's pretty cool, I guess. I used to remember being jealous to no end that my older brother was shiny."

Yuri gasped. "That's so cool. I remember the first time I met a shiny Pokémon. There was a Mime Jr. that passed through our town to pick up supplies and I just remember screaming. I was so confused and I thought the world was ending. One of the shopkeeps explained to me, though and my mom made me go apologize." The Riolu, in a much better mood, chuckled a bit.

Kira chuckled, "I was only find months old when I got separated from my parents, but one of the things I distinctly remember was a conversation I had with my mom on how I wished I was shiny. Shiny Fennekins have silver fur, but the way my mom told me to think of regular Fennekins as having gold fur, which would be a tier above silver. I remember buying that statement but now I think it was her way of saying that being shiny doesn't really matter in life other than a difference in appearance. It's literally skin deep."

"Or fur deep, depending," Yuri said, grinning widely. "I, for one, really like being blue."

"I've grown fond of my 'golden' fur.", Kira smiled.

The hovercraft shook slightly as it lands. The door opened to the entrance of mount bristle.

Yuri looked around. "Is that the dungeon?" He asked, gesturing towards the mountain.

"Yes. Let's get to work." Kira said as she disembarked, "I need to meet with Leslie and Ella and set up the TSI for time stream scanning. You're welcome to stay close to us if it makes you more comfortable."

Yuri put a paw to his face in contemplation. "I think if you tell me what to watch out for, I'll probably team up with one of the experienced explorers and try to help with evacuation. Unless you just need extra help, which in that case I'll happily tag along."

"We'll just be warning everyone of any temporal anomalies that are in the way, maybe try to disperse them if there's time, and collect data for the investigation that's going to happen after this. Thinking purely of efficiency, I think you might be more helpful with the actual evacuation and rescue efforts."

"Sounds good. Well, I'll stay tuned for updates, try to help some 'mon, and do my best to stay safe myself. See you later!" Yuri glanced around at the other Pokémon in the guild who were gathering and walked off to find someone to work with. Yuri soon overheard one of the rescue teams saying that they were short one Pokémon, as the mission specified four Pokémon each. He called out to them, asking to join and complete the team. They spoke briefly, and made their way towards the dungeon's entrance.


	6. Chapter 6: Mountain Peak

As the large expedition party made their way up the mountain, they had to stop several times when Kira, Ella or Leslie said that there was a temporal distortion ahead, only continuing after the anomaly had been clearly marked or dissipated with the temporal interface. Finally reaching the peak of the mountain, the epicenter of the disaster, the rescue teams arrived to find Mount Bristle Peak, usually a bustling marketplace with shops and tourist attractions in absolute disarray. were huddled together, parents protecting their children, while parts of the air seemed... broken, as in parts of the field of view simply didn't line up, like seeing the world through a cracked pane of glass.

Yuri looked around the peak. It looked that some teams were starting to coax groups of Pokémon to come exit the dungeon. Others were checking for injuries, in the process of triage to see who would need more assistance to evacuate.

The team that he was with approached a duo of Shellos and a Gastrodon who had been deemed good to go for immediate evacuation. One of the Shellos was shaking uncontrollably, having witnessed the event first hand. The general feeling of uneasiness and fear hung heavy in the once light mountain air. Yuri approached the shaking Pokémon, crouched down a bit, and said some assuring words.

"Hey, we're going to get you all out of here, okay. Just stick really close to us. Everything is going to be alright." he looked to the rest of his team for support. More reassuring words were exchanged as the team prepared to walk them out of the dungeon. Meanwhile, the temporal researchers had already gotten to work dissipating the temporal distortions, clearing a safe path out of the dungeon. The group of seven made their way through the newly cleared path, sometimes encouraging the the civilians as they got even closer to the base of the mountain. Once they finally got to the exit, the two Shellos and the Gastrodon showed some relief. They thanked the team of four as they were guided to other guild members who were taking care of the evacuees. The sun was at its highest point by the time the rescue operation ended. Injured Pokémon were transferred to the Treasure Town hospital, others were released on site, while an unfortunate few were taken to the morgue.

"Yuri!" Kira approached the Riolu as some of the rescue teams were disbanding, "Now that everyone's out of harm's way, we need to dissipate the remaining distortions and collect data. Do you mind helping us?"

The Riolu's ears perked up. "Of course. I'm pretty sure I'm not needed for anything else."

The temporal researchers, along with Jennings who was carrying the TSI, and the Emolga who had wires attached to his electricity sacs, which was plugged into a power converter and connected to the aforementioned TSI climbed back up the mountain. Once there, Kira took out her tablet and issued a startup command to the cylindrical machine. The translucent stripes on its casing glowed a pale blue.

"So this is how the distortions are fixed? You need me to do anything?" Yuri asked.

"Honestly, I just thought you'd interested in this." Kira said, "Thought it might cheer you up."

"Aw, thanks. Well, for one, you're absolutely right!"

"So... we've already had to deal with once, so luckily we don't have to resort to trial and error."

Kira showed Yuri her tablet, which was displaying a command line interface. She typed a command to execute the correct script file into the prompt.

Yuri nodded as he looked and listened, "So once you do this, does the distortion just disappear or does it take time?" He took out his notebook to write some things down.

"It monitors the time stream and tries to emit its own distortion, equal and opposite to the one we want to get rid of. It took me a long time to perfect, but I think I've Weedled out most of the bug-type functions." Kira tapped the enter icon on her tabet, and the program output appeared on the command line interface.

Yuri turned to the Fennekin, wide-eyed and smiling. "Was that a joke? Please tell me it was and not just my brain using trick room on me," he replied before getting distracted by the text on the tablet screen.

"If you think scientists have awful humor, programmers and engineers are even worse."

Yuri laughed. "I think that you must have a special, more intellectual-type jokes. I'm just not smart enough to understand it," he shrugged. "I have a horrible sense of humor. That's the issue. I can rarely tell if someone is joking or not unless I've heard the joke before or if they start laughing first."

"As a full-time scientist and part time engineer and programmer, I can tell you that our jokes are just awful, no going around it." Kira chuckled. In the meantime, various log data appeared on screen for several minutes, before the program stopped: "All temporal distortions dissipated. Script ended with 0 errors."

"Anyway... We're mostly done here. Let's head back, there should be one hovercraft left waiting for us.", Leslie said.

"I'm so ready to go. And I just realized I haven't eaten all-day," the Riolu grumbled, feeling the fatigue of today finally hit him.

Back at the guild, it was discovered that Kyle and the guild administrators had decided to give the on-site rescuers the rest of the day off, as most guild members returning from Mount Bristle were exhausted and many were shaken. "So, we have the rest of the day to ourselves! Want to head into town?", Leslie asked Kira and Ella, who both agreed, "Yuri, want to join us?"

"If there is food involved, I am all in," Yuri replied, "I hope you don't me tagging along!"

"Of course not! There's a little restaurant a short metro ride from here that we like to go to, it'll be the perfect place to relax and catch up." Kira said.


	7. Chapter 7: Catching Up

On their way out, Jennings caught word of their plans, and was invited. The five Pokémon waited on the platform of the train station right next to the guild building.

"I believe this is my first time riding the metro!" Yuri remarked excitedly as he waited with the group. "It must be amazing to accommodate smaller Pokémon and even taller ones." He looked up at Jennings, beaming.

"Actually, the solution for designing it for every shape and size was to... not have any seats! It's literally an open floor and some rails to hold onto." Jennings said.

"Amazing! What insight!" Yuri looked around, writing down as many details as he can. "Are there, by any chance, pamphlets or maps around? I'd love to take some." He asked the group.

"I think there are in the train, I'll be sure to point you to it!" Kira said. A train pulled into the platform a few moments later.

"To the train!" Yuri bounded up to one of the open doors.

"You have not been a good influence on him." Kira joked to Leslie as they boarded. The train, just as Jennings had described, had no seats, and all of the Pokémon either had to stand or sit on the ground in the case of quadrupedal Pokémon. A platform was overhead designed for smaller flying or hovering Pokémon. Yuri looked for a rail to hold onto, mimicking the other passengers on the metro. He made sure to stay as close as possible to the other guild members to prevent getting lost or left behind. For the time being, he stayed completely silent though his expression remained a bright as ever.

"I think I found the pamphlets." Ella said as she pointed to the wall opposite them.

The train was already slowing down as it entered the next station. An automated voice spoke over the intercom: "The next station is: Dusknull Avenue."

"Thanks, I almost forgot," Yuri said as the train slowed down. The Riolu quickly made his way to where Ella said the pamphlets were. After grabbing two and putting them in his bag, he tried to make his way back to his original spot, hopefully before the train started moving again.

"All right gang, the next station is our stop!" Kira announced as the train accelerated again.

Yuri grasped hold of the railing right as the train picked up speed again. "Gotcha!" he called back to Kira in acknowledgment.

"The next station is: Kecleon Marketplace."

"That's our stop!" Kira announced, "This is the shopping epicenter of Treasure Town, named after Kecleon merchants that supplied explorers with items throughout history!"

"What a tribute," Yuri said in awe as the group exited the train.

"The restaurant is right across from the station!" Ella said as the group made their way across the plaza.

Yuri follows along, thinking about the types of food the restaurant might have. His eyes wander around, taking in all of the different shops around the market. It's a lot busier than the town where he grew up.

"Here it is: The Reviver Seed Diner!" Ella announced as they approached the restaurant. The establishment had a modern decor, with white walls, glass accents, and multicolored tables.

"Welcome! Table for five?" a waitress asked as the group entered.

Yuri was pleasantly surprised once they entered. He had never been to a restaurant that looked like this. He took note of the name of the establishment. "This place looks really nice," he said to no one in particular. "It's so bright, I love it!"

The waitress brought out five menus and a teapot. The tea was passed around as everyone read the menus.

"I'm going with the usual." Kira said, "Vegetable soup, pure seed bread, and the berry salad. Yuri, found anything that interests you?"

"I'm not a very picky eater, but everything looks so good. I can't decide." He looked over the menu once more, but couldn't come up with anything else. "Since I'm new and all, I guess I'll just order what you're having as well."

"Don't forget the Poképuffs!" Leslie added.

"I haven't. We'll split a group order!" Kira said.

"Poképuffs?" Yuri repeated inquisitively. "What are those."

"You know how there were humans that lived before us? Apparently they had a food called Poképuffs. The recipe was discovered by the Expedition Society and their project to translate recovered human writings. It's amazing, if you've never tried it before then it is imperative you do!" Leslie explained.

Yuri shrugs. "I guess I might as well try," he concluded. "Speaking of humans, does anyone ever really talk about them here? The topic was kinda taboo where I came from, but everyone used to whisper about tales that they heard." He stopped. "I guess you could say I'm pretty uneducated."

"We once had a human at the guild. It's in the historical archives if you want to check it out, but in short, it's not taboo here but it's not very often talked about. The general attitude is that because humans are mostly ancient history, they're of little consequence to most Pokémon." Kira said, taking a swig of her cup of tea.

"Ah, I guess I'll really have to get around to checking the ar-what do you mean there was a human at the guild?" Yuri asked, suddenly very interested.

"In the mid second century, so about three hundred years ago, there was a Mudkip who claimed that he was a human that got turned into a Pokémon. He was actually the one that resolved the infamous time gear incident! If you've ever seen the movie 'The Future and the Present', it's based on that event." Kira explained.

"That movie has a lot of artistic license though." Ella added, "Good film, bad historical interpretation. If you want to learn what happened, again, I recommend the guild database. You can actually read the three hundred year old mission reports that the human-turned-Pokémon wrote!"

Yuri started to tear up a little." I loved that movie," he whispered, barely audible. "Now I get to read the actual records. My friends would tease me because I wanted to watch it over and over again."

"Remember when the hero's partner went home after the hero disappeared?" Ella said, "That actually happened pretty much like in the movie, and the partner's real mission report is in the database. That was the only formal document to ever make me cry, the writing was so stoic and professional but you could tell she was holding back tears as she wrote it."

The Riolu actually started to cry. "Yes. And when the Grovyle had to go back to the future. That part gets me every time," Yuri all but sobbed. "Sorry, it's just so good. Knowing that it's based off of a true story makes it so much sadder." He started to wipe his eyes with the back of his paws. "Worst experience as a Riolu. Emotional movies, emotional stories."

"You know what I wish someone would do? Make an actual documentary-type film of the events. Use real, primary source records with the production value of The Future and the Present. Guaranteed to make Pokémon learn stuff while crying."

"No more, Ella. I think I might actually spend my life savings on making that happen. And I probably won't even regret it." Yuri made a serious, but thoughtful look.

"Onto lighter things then." Ella replied, "Would you be interested in some Pecha Berry Wine? This restaurant brews it in house and it's literally award winning. And yes, the irony of turning a fruit that treats poison into, well, technically poison, isn't lost on me, but it actually tastes really good!"

"I'll have to pass. I don't know how things work over here, but on the Mist Continent, I'm still considered not old enough to drink." Yuri smiled politely at Ella, but does write down the recommendation in his notebook.

"All right, no pressure! By the way, the drinking age is 18 on the Grass Continent."

"Thanks for the info." Yuri replied.

The waitress took the group's orders, and soon brought out their food.

"You know, Yuri" Kira commented, "For a rookie at the guild, you're doing really well, a week in and you already seem like you've been exploring your whole life! The trial period is sometimes a bit hectic for new recruits."

"Yeah, tell him about how you broke a temporal sensor on your second day at work!" Leslie said jokingly.

Yuri chuckled a bit. "I'm glad you think so. I often feel like I'm just bumbling around and asking dumb questions, but the reassurance is nice," he said in response to both Kira and Leslie. "I'd like to attribute all of my progress to you all and the other members of the guild who've helped me out since I've gotten here."

"Thanks!" Kira smiled.

"You don't even want to hear about how Kira broke a ten million Poké piece of equipment?" Leslie laughed.

Yuri turns to Leslie in horror. "Ten million Poké?" The Riolu shook his head, "I would've been quaking."

"Story time!" Leslie exclaimed excitedly, "So Kira transferred to the Temporal Observatory about two years after I did, and on literally the second day at work she was in the lab replacing a sensor's power supply. I was nearby doing some calculations, and all of a sudden I hear a 'Snap!' I turn around and Kira's got this 'Oh, Arceus. I'm going to get fired' look on her face. She shattered the sensor lattice while opening the case, you know, the really complicated and intertwined part of the sensor?"

Yuri tried to mask his laughter with a sharp intake of air, but his eyes were still squinted in an amused expression. "I would've just stood up, left, and never returned. You have a brave soul, Kira."

"I thought about doing that. Luckily our then head of research, not Ella, was very understanding that it was an accident." Kira chuckled.

"The world could use a couple of more understanding hearts." Yuri tasked some of the vegetable soup he ordered. "This is really good. Do you always order this?"

"I lived on vegetable soup through my Science Institute days!" Kira said.

"Hey, at least it tastes good. I honestly don't know how anyone could get tired off this." Yuri continued to eat his soup while also tasting the other items on his plate.

"It was the only thing I didn't get sick of after living in the Institute dorms. After that, the Guild living spaces felt like a luxury resort, especially since you don't have roommates at the guild!"

"The Institute dorms? I've never heard of that before." The Riolu sort of tilted his head as he thought.

"Treasure town has a Science Institute for more purely academic studies. Most of the scientists at the guild got their certificates at the Institute. They started the Temporal Observatory as a joint project with the Treasure Town Guild, but now I believe the guild is the primary stakeholder."

"So you got to live where you studied too! Completely surrounded by your interests, sounds like a cool life, but considering you were studying, must've been stressful too."

"I had literally the worst roommate." Kira said, "She cared more about her appearance to others than actually getting her certificate. She was an ice-type and I am a fire-type, so we had constant disagreements about what temperature the room should be at, she threw parties in our dorm and made me wait outside because she didn't want my 'nerd vibe', also known as studying, ruining the mood. Here's the kicker, remember how the only thing I have of my real family was a bow? She took it from my closet without permission, wore it to a party, somehow managed to spill wine on it, and got offended when I confronted her about it!"

Yuri offered an awkward sympathetic smile. "That must've made the conditions even more stressful. But I'm a strong believer in respecting personal space, so I see especially why you'd be upset about your bow."

"It wasn't just about personal space, it's about how it was the only thing that still connected me to my biological family. I rarely even wore it because I didn't want to damage it, and the fact that she almost ruined it and then made me seem like the selfish one just made me enraged beyond belief. She had no idea how close she was to getting a flamethrower to the face."

Yuri nodded silently, flinching slightly.

Realizing that she had actually ruined the mood, Kira once again piped up: "Well, enough about that, anyone else have any funny stories to share?"

Trying not to be awkward, Yuri offered a story. "When I was younger, my brother and I wanted to participate in our town's bake sale for the first time. We were going to make oran berry tarts, but I accidentally picked a bunch of oren berries instead." The Riolu laughed a bit before suddenly donning a serious expression. "We never had a bake sale again."

"I once bought an Oren berry at a farmer's market." Jennings said, "How it made it through quality control I have no idea, but it was not a pleasant experience. At least baking them denatured some of the toxins, eating one raw was awful!"

"Ouch. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies, granted I don't have any, but you get the idea," the Riolu responded. "What a cruel thing the oren berry is." Yuri shrugged. "Ah! By the way, is there somewhere here that sells cameras?"

"This is Kecleon Marketplace! They sell almost everything!" Leslie said, "We can go browsing for one after this!"

"I guess you're right. Well, thanks for helping me in advance," Yuri replied.

After everyone had finished their meals, the group split the bill and headed out into the plaza.

"There's an electronics store right there." Leslie pointed, " Pretty sure we can find cameras there!"

"To the-," Yuri stopped short. "Yes, let us walk to this here electronics shop," he instead decides to say.

Leslie faked a very hurt expression. Yuri just stuck his tongue out at the Vulpix before dramatically turning towards the photography section of the large space with technology laden shelving. He browsed around, occasionally looking through a lens or pushing a shutter button. Not too long after, he came down to a small digital camera and a slightly larger Polaroid camera.

"Yuri, check this out!" Yuri turned to see Kira holding a TM disk. The disk read "Precision Physic: Enables high precision telekinesis (beyond the conventional move) for non-battle applications. Compatibility: Pokémon compatible with the conventional Physic move. Full compatibility list on back."

"Huh? What's that?" He took a closer look at what Kira is holding, still perplexed.

"It's a new TM for non-battle situations instead focusing on using the power of Pokémon for other applications! It's just been released and I'm debating if I should bite the bullet seed and buy it. What do you think?"

Yuri thought for a little bit. "I guess it depends. Personally, I would think about what I could use it for, the cost, and... battle practicality. But I don't think you'd care much about the last part. If it's useful for you, then I'd say go for it!"

"Well, I do want go support the development of non-battle TMs. I already have the Precision Fire TM which enables precise control over fire and the transfer of thermal energy and it's amazing. Precision Psychic would help with my engineering work."

"That's super cool. Maybe I should consider one, not that I would know what to do with it." Yuri continued to look between the cameras. "Which one would would you pick?"

"I'm not a photographer, so I've always used the one in my tablet." Kira said, "But if you plan on taking pictures of mystery dungeons, then you probably don't want something too heavy. Oh and in this day and age, I think digital is the way to go."

"Sounds like a good consideration. Alright, I'll just buy the digital one then!" Yuri happily picked up the box containing the chosen camera. "You looking around for anything else?" He asks Kira.

"You know what? I'm buying the TM! It'll help me avoid disasters like shattering temporal sensors." Kira joked.

"Wouldn't that be nice," Yuri managed to say between his chuckles as he started to make his way to pay.

Yuri paid for his camera, followed by Kira paying for her TM.

"Would you like us to install your TM? It's a free service we offer with TM purchases." the cashier asked.

"Sure!" Kira said, and was met up by one of the store's technicians. He carried a special tablet with a small, coin sized circular disk connected to it by a wire. He placed the disk on Kira's forehead. "All right. You currently know Flamethrower, Protect, Precision Fire and Tail Whip. Which one so you want to replace with Precision Psychic?"

"What do you guys think?" Kira asked the group, "Which move should I trash?"

"If you could ever forgive yourself for replacing tail whip, I'd go with that considering both protect and flamethrower could prove useful if the need arises," Yuri chimed in.

All right! Tail whip it is then!"

The technician placed the TM disc in the reader and typed into his tablet. After a few seconds, the device beeped and the technician removed the transmitter from Kira's forehead.

"Try it out!" Leslie said excitedly, "Holding a pen in her paw.

Kira looked at the pen and concentrated. The pen lifted from her paw and floated to Kira.

Yuri clapped his paws. "Nice! What about this?" He pulls a small stone out of his bag and holds it out in front of him.

Kira looked at the stone, her eyes once again glowing orange. A light emitting haze of the same color became visible around the stone and it was lifted from the Riolu's grasp. Kira swung the rock in a circle above her head a few times, and gently set it down on the ground. "Hey! I'm getting the hang of this!" Kira exclaims excitedly.

Yuri nodded contentedly. "Looks like you're a quick learner! I'm not surprised." He walked over to pick up the stone and returns it to his bag.

"I read that some Pokémon have figured out how to fly like a Shaymin with Precision Psychic!" Leslie said excitedly, "That should be your next goal!"

"A flying Fennekin! It was worth every Poké, I promise," Yuri laughed as he visualized Kira floating around the Temporal Observatory.

"So, gang, where to next?" Jennings asked.

"Well, all of my errands for the day are complete, but I was planning on stopping by the guild gyms later," Yuri said as he shrugged. "If you have anything else to do and don't mind me tagging along, then there's that too."

"I think I will go back to the observatory." Ella said, it's been a long day even if we had half of it off." The rest of the group shared similar opinions.

"I'm that case, Yuri, do you need me to walk you back to the guild or do you know your way around?" Kira asked.

"I'd like to think that I know how to get around, but honestly, I'm hopelessly lost."

"I'll walk you home." Jennings said, "The Temporal Observatory requires a train ride in the opposite direction, and we're both going back to the guild."

Yuri smiled at Jennings. "Thanks for taking care of me."

"Don't mention it!"


	8. Chapter 8: Artificial in Nature

The next day, Yuri looked at his tablet to realize he had a high priority assignment. Among the participants, were Kira, Leslie and Ella. He was instructed to meet them in briefing room 105. Still a bit tired, he rubbed his eyes and stretched really quickly, just a tad sore from battling the day before. He put his items in his satchel, grabbed an apple from the table in his room and walked to the meeting room, quickly downing his breakfast.

"All right, everyone is here!" Ella said once Yuri and a few other Pokémon arrived.

"I have bad news, well, more bad news, about the temporal incident at Mount Bristle." the Sylveon said, "We've analyzed the sensor data, and we have determined that the temporal distortions are artificial in nature."

Yuri squinted his eyes a bit as he thought before speaking up. "You mean it wasn't just some freak accident?" He was genuinely confused, head slightly tilted to the side.

"Someone deliberately caused the temporal distortions and as a result, 4 Pokémon were killed and 36 were injured." Kira said, the cheerful tone she usually wore was absent today.

"Dear Arceus," Yuri mumbled as he put a paw to his mouth. "How is this possible, though?"

"Presumably, a temporal interface much like the ones we use at the Temporal Observatory was hidden somewhere on the peak of Mount Bristle, and was remotely activated. It's likely still there since the mystery dungeon has been closed since the incident occurred. We have been tasked to find and retrieve it if possible, as it could hold the evidence needed to help identify the terrorist who did this." Ella said, "Since Mount Bristle is within the Treasure Town Guild's primary service area, where we have near exclusive jurisdiction over what happens in the local mystery dungeons, the Pokémon Government has given us the responsibility of conducting the official investigation."

Yuri nodded slowly as his understanding grows. "So, I assume that's why we're all gathered here now. To go back to Mount Bristle."

Ella nodded, "We are scheduled to move out as soon as the briefing is over. Once again, we will bring TSI's for data analysis. There may also be officers from the Pokémon Security Service coming to the guild to assist us. Temporal crimes of this nature are considered 'extreme-severity terrorism offenses' under Pokémon Union law, so this is the guild's top priority until it is resolved."

"Got it." Yuri took out his notebook to write down a few things.

Once again, the hovercraft ride to Mount Bristle was devoid of the cheerful chatter that Yuri had grown so fond of. There was no excitement or sense of adventure, but worry, fear and even anger were all too present.

"I can't believe it." Kira said in a monotone voice as she sat beside the Riolu, "Yesterday we were celebrating a job well done, and now this. I can't believe someone would do something so cruel and stupid!" her tone growing progressively angered, "I can't believe whoever they are ever managed to get their undeserving paws on a temporal interface, and then had the audacity to use such beautiful principles of physics to kill!"

Yuri exhaled deeply. "I can't begin to imagine who would want to do this. Seeing the pain, fear, an loss in some of those Pokémon yesterday. Someone, another Pokémon did that," he said, voice whisper quiet.

"Also, why?! All that suffering, what could a Pokémon possibly gain from all that? It doesn't just stop there, every time you cause a temporal disturbance like this, you risk permanently damaging the time stream! Permanently. As in Dialga might not even be able to repair it. It would scar our universe forever!"

Yuri nodded in agreement, "I hope we can find out who ever did this, and soon."

The hovercraft once again landed near the mystery dungeon, and the exploration team moved in. At the peak, a search pattern was formed, with focal points at the two TSI's that was brought. The temporal data was sent in real time to the tablets of each explorer, who have been instructed to investigate any regions on the map with a red color code, which indicated an area of high temporal activity.

"These areas appear and disappear by themselves as the time stream naturally fluctuates, but any device capable of directly interacting with the time stream, also known as temporal interfaces, will register high activity levels even when off, due to the temporally active materials they are made of." Kira announced to the group.

Staring intently at his tablet, Yuri replied, "How hard could it possibly be to find the thing? It's not small at all, but yet, here we are." The search commenced, and explorers spread out. A while later Yuri saw a red spot a few meters from him, behind a stack of large rocks.

The Riolu walked over, somewhat cautiously. There weren't any gaps between the rocks, so he gently tried to ease his weight on one of the smaller ones. It barely budged, but between the slim opening he created was a metallic glimmer.

"Guys, I may have found something," he called to anyone in the near vicinity. Kira walked over to Yuri, and used her new psychic powers to lift the smaller rocks away. Kira's eyes widened with shock as a metal cylinder was revealed.

"Well, there's practicality for ya," Yuri said as he observed the object with Kira. He crossed his arms. "I guess in all of the chaos of yesterday, it would have been pretty easy to miss this."

"Whoever planted this here clearly took care to make it inconspicuous. I think we found our golden nugget." Kira declared.

"Yup," Yuri chimed in agreement. "So, uh, what now? Do we just take this back to the rest of the team and let you all work your magic, or...?" He trailed off expectantly.

"I guess. We'll need to analyze every component and try to determine where it came from, decompile the firmware to see what it was programmed to do, and a bunch of other things." Kira said before her eyes glowed orange again, "I'll bet you there's a generator back there as well." she said as she struggled to lift the heavier rocks in the stack.

Yuri tried to assist with the heavier rocks, physically pushing them while Kira used her psychic. "This is really bizarre," Yuri groaned, overtaken by the incredulity of the situation.

"I've found one other temporal interface being used to cause distortions. The guy responsible was a psychopath. Darkrai, remember him?" Kira said, "I have a bad feeling about this one... and, that's a generator all right." Kira said as the rocks are finally lifted away, revealing a black and yellow cube shaped machine connected to the cylinder, "A microfusion device from the looks of it."

"I guess Leslie did say these things need a lot of power. I'm honestly at a loss. What was the point?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe some kind of disgusting political statement? Maybe whoever did this was genuinely insane."

Yuri shrugged in response. "Well, whoever did this needs to first, be caught, and second, brought to justice."

"Oh yeah. Once convicted they'll be spending the rest of their life behind force fields."

"I just feel for all those Pokémon they hurt. Some of their lives will never be the same. Hopefully they will eventually find closure."

The temporal interface and generator were brought to the Temporal Observatory for analysis, while the explorers stayed at the mystery dungeon to search for any evidence that can help identify the Pokémon responsible.

Yuri muttered to himself as he helped scour the peak for evidence. Every so often, he'd pass another guild member and they'd go over where they hadn't checked. He wrote down a few words in his notebook every so often, but also kept a close eye on his tablet for any updates.

The search turned up some information, but not much. The exploration team returned, and Yuri noticed a Zorua in the staff area he had not seen before. He didn't wear a guild badge, but instead wore a grey vest designed for quadrupeds and had both the Pokémon Union and Grass Continent emblems pinned on his collar.

It really knowing what to do, Yuri lingered around the room, shuffling his feet awkwardly. He checked his tablet again.

The Zorua notices the Riolu, but doesn't respond. It was from another guild member walking by that Yuri learned that he is a security agent from the Pokémon Security Service, assigned to oversee the investigation.

Yuri thanked the other guild members for the information. And walked over to the Zoura.

"Do you need any help, by any chance?" the Riolu asked.

"I'm mostly supposed to speak with the admins and temporal staff, but did you by any chance participate in the initial relief efforts?"

Yuri nodded fervently, "Yes, I did."

"In that case, please come to the security debriefing at 7:00 today. The temporal staff will be presenting their preliminary findings and we'd also like the rescuers to comment on their experiences."

"Great. Thanks for letting me know." Yuri bowed slightly and turned to leave.


	9. Chapter 9: Security Debriefing

Pokemon were gathered in a meeting room much larger than what was usually used in team briefings, almost like a theater or lecture hall. Yuri saw Kira and Leslie on the stage area, and Ella and the somewhat mysterious looking Zorua sitting at the front when he entered. The Riolu looked around for an open seat somewhere towards the middle of the room. Finding one that satisfied him, he sat, taking out his tablet and notebook in preparation for anything he might need to copy down. He shared a few words to the Pokémon next to him who he had seen working during the initial visit to Mount Bristle.

Once everyone were seated, Kira started her presentation. "...we have been able to identify the temporal interface used in the attack. It was a CD0801 active temporal sensor manufactured five years ago. This sensor, like the model number suggests, uses a class of temporal technology called 'Celebi Derivative' as the way it interacts with the time stream was inspired by the legendary Pokemon Celebi, and has 8 sensor elements and one emitter element (therefore, one independent temporal interface). By contrast, the Temporal Observatory uses CD6402 devices. We have yet to identify the origin of the interface, but due to the fact that CD0801's are no longer produced, we believe that one that was once used for legitimate research was either stolen or not destroyed as per regulation when it was decommissioned."

Yuri wrote down what he understood of the presentation, sometimes putting down a question to ask later. For the most part, however, his eyes were locked on the stage, occasionally drifting over to the Zoura he met earlier.

"...when we decompiled the firmware that was on the sensor, we discovered a script that was set to run at the same time as when we detected the temporal destabilization, minutes prior to the appearance of the temporal distortions. The main payload of the script contained a loop that ran just four instructions..."

Kira held a remote control suspended in telekinesis, and used it to advance the slideshow. The next slide showed the decompiled code:

_TSI EMIT 0x07E70000 0330 esp_  
_TSI REFLECT 0x01 esp_  
_TSI WARP 0x45 esp_  
_TSI RESET_

Yuri raised his arm sheepishly. "Um, considering many of us don't have, uh, much knowledge about the TSI, what does the code mean?"

"Actually, we're not completely sure either. The second term in lines 1 to 3 are interface commands that each represent a quantum interaction with the time stream. Emit, well, invokes the creation of new temporal particles called chronitons, while Reflect and Warp manipulate existing chronitons, both natural and artificial. The more we look into it, the more we suspect that the temporal distortions are just a side effect. The four lines were set to loop exactly one hundred thousand times, whereas distortions are usually creates by another command, called 'rotate'. We don't know what they were trying to accomplish with those commands. I should also mention that warp, reflect and rotate, in the context of temporal interactions, don't literally mean moving groups of chronitons in those ways. How chronitons interact aren't intuitive or easy to visualize or describe, think of them as code words."

"Ah, thank you," Yuri replied. He tried to sit back further into his seat, a little embarrassed, whilst adding the new information to his notes.

"...we tried to find serial numbers, identification codes, anything that would determine where the sensor came from, but we haven't had any luck. A lot of labels have been removed, and the ones that remained didn't have any useful information. We are enlisting the help of the Pokemon Security Service to help us track the origin of the interface, hopefully their huge amount of experience in forensics can find what we didn't. This concludes the Temporal Observatory's preliminary findings report, does anyone have comments or questions?"

The Zorua was the first to speak, "Was the hardware modified? It is my understanding that active temporal sensors cannot be used to arbitrarily interact with the time stream without the recent hardware upgrades."

"There was indeed hardware modification. A new controller was installed, but because there have been no upgrade kits released for that model of sensor, and the general haphazardness of how the controller was put together, we believe that the Pokemon responsible modified the existing controller to enable TSI functionality."

Yuri finished up his notes and waited until the meeting is concluded. While doing so, he made a little sketch of the Pokémon on stage as Kira spoke. He nodded as he began to understand the specifics of the discovered TSI. A voice somewhere behind him piped up.

"If we didn't know this Temporal Interface existed, what's to say there aren't more? What if whoever is responsible has more plans underway?" a Darmanitan asked.

"That's what we are worried about. If they do plan on deploying more of these then it will be a race against the clock to find them. The PSS are doing their part to increase security in the area, and we need to focus on the investigation and be ready to provide emergency aid if it does happen again."

Another Pokémon, this time a Mienshao, raised his voice to ask, "but how would anyone outside of the guild, specifically the ones who work at the Temporal Observatory, get their paws on the technology that only exists here? If the old sensors were destroyed, how was the missing one overlooked?"

Whispers around the room could be heard. Yuri could feel the alarm and unease of the other guild members following the Meinshao's question.

"We don't know how they ended up in possession of the sensor in question, but a few other guilds and similar organizations do have temporal technology. Off the top of my head, I can think of three possibilities. The sensor was stolen from a legitimate research facility, it wasn't destroyed when it was decommissioned due to little more than incompetence, or this was the result of coercion or bribery of a legitimate research facility or otherwise an inside job."

The crowd quietd down to listen to Kira speak.

"What can the expedition teams do to help?"

"Please report any suspicious activity to the guild administration or Perry here.", she pointed to the Zorua, "We are currently thinking of getting teams to carry portable, passive sensors, the type that only collects data and isn't a temporal interface on their expeditions so we have a better idea of any small, local scale disturbances, but we're not sure if it will go through. We don't have enough sensors for everyone."

Some of the Pokémon nodded as Kira spoke, but no one else made a move to ask any more questions.

"If there are no more questions, then our debriefing will conclude here. If you have anything else to say, please do not hesitate to contact a guild coordinator, Ella, Leslie or myself."

As Pokémon began to filter out of the room, Yuri put his belongings in his bag. As he headed toward the exit, the exhaustion from the past two days' activities washed over him.


	10. Chapter 10: Regression

The next day was uneventful, giving Yuri some time to rest. The day after, however, exactly four days to the second after the first incident, temporal distortions tore through another mystery dungeon. Four days after that, another incident. Thankfully, both incidents took place in uninhabited mystery dungeons, which supported the hypothesis that they were not designed to cause immediate harm, but were for a purpose no one had yet to figure out.

Yuri walked to the common area as he thought about the items on his schedule. It had been almost two weeks since the first temporal incident on Mount Bristle. The Riolu checked his tablet for updates often, holding his breath in the event of another crisis. This morning, his notification screen displayed one scheduled meeting with the temporal staff. Seeing the upcoming debriefing scheduled, Yuri started to walk toward the correct room in the guild building.

Kira was sitting onstage setting up the presentation equipment, her face showed a subtle but uncharacteristic expression of worry, frustration and hopelessness. Yuri walked up to her, subconsciously gravitating to her emotional distress.

"Hey, you need a paw with that?" He asked, gesturing vaguely to the equipment Kira was setting up.

"I'm almost done, but thank you." Kira sighed weakly, "All right. Time to sound stoic and professional. Let's get this over with."

Yuri nodded and attempted a comforting smile before going to sit.

The usual suspects showed up to attend. Ella, Perry the Zorua, other explorers and the administration staff.

"Welcome." Kira said. To those not paying attention, the Fennekin sounded as informed and relaxed as ever, but those who were accustomed to her inflections when genuinely happy could immediately notice that she could not be described that way.

"I will start with the lighter stuff. There has been an update of Temporal Observatory operations. So far, we have been removing one or two TSIs from the sensor tower whenever we needed to bring them on an expedition. It takes upwards of half an hour to even get the sensors out the door, and the stationary network's resolution is reduced when TSIs are missing. Therefore, we have decided to custom build a pair of brand new CD6402 TSIs exclusively for mobile use. They feature carrying straps and integrated wheels and handles for easy transport, and a more convenient power connector for hooking up to either generators or bioelectricity devices."

Leslie came onstage, wheeling in one of the new TSIs. Scattered clapping and exclamations of "great!" and "nice!" echoed around the room.

"With that out of the way, this is why I scheduled this debriefing." Kira advanced the slideshow on the screen, "so far, there have been three temporal attacks on three separate mystery dungeons, four days apart down to the second. Each time, the TSIs have been identically configured, each with that cryptic script whose primary function we have yet to identify. Computer simulations showed that aside from temporal distortions, there should have not been any other effects, but our models, though ever advancing, is far from anything resembling perfection, and it shows."

The slideshow advanced once more.

"we first noticed this when we plotted the three incidents on a map."

Three dots appeared on a map of Grass Continent. Three lines also appeared, forming an equilateral triangle with a dot at each vertex.

"The dots represent the precise location of the discovered TSIs. Yes. It lines up perfectly. Down to the centimeter."

The crowd stayed silent, hanging onto each of Kira's words. Yuri drew a small scale version of the map next to some points from the last meetings.

"Now, this is disturbing enough, but a component enough nutjob could have done this for no reason other than to create a triangle. We then took extremely high resolution temporal scans of the area. None of us could explain this."

The three lines on the slideshow started moving on the screen. They repositioned and resized themselves so that one end of each line was at the dots, and the other ends merged at the center of the former triangle.

"This is the result of the scan."

A color coded diagram was superimposed over the map, the same as what was shown during the TSI hunt that ensued when it was first determined that the distortions were artificial. Concentric circles. A red spot in the middle, followed by orange, yellow, and finally, a green circle whose outermost edge lined up with the three dots.

"These are chroniton activity measurements. Each progressive color code is a difference of one hundred Celebi, not the legendary Pokémon, the unit of measurement named after them. This is unprecedented. For some context, natural fluctuations in chroniton activity are generally in the 1 to 10 Celebi range, and perfectly circular hot spots are exceedingly rare, they're usually elliptical at best. I don't think I need to mention that something is seriously wrong here."

A swell of murmuring rose within the room as guild members whispered to each other about the contents of the diagram.

A gruff voice towards the very back boomed over the chatter. "Are these extreme fluctuations dangerous?"

"Very fortunately, not usually, because there are populated areas in the affected region. They could interfere with Pokémon with natural temporal properties, like Celebi or even Dialga if they happened to be in the area, but we don't expect any life threatening effects. As for what could be causing this phenomenon... this is just a hunch, it seems like something is 'pushing' on the time stream from outside of it, kind of like when you have plastic wrap over a bowl and you press on the center of it. If viewed from the underside of the plastic wrap, it would form a similar convex shape, just with space, not time."

The Pokémon seemed content with the answer and the rest of the crowd fell quiet again.

"After deliberating with both the PSS the guild's council or administrators, it has been decided that there will be an expedition to investigate the anomaly. We will set up a temporary outpost here in Harvest Town..." a dot of a different color appeared inside the circles made by the temporal fluctuations, "Leslie, Ella and myself will be going, and we will be bringing one of the two mobile TSIs. We will need several explorers to assist us, specifically, those that have already been involved in at least one expedition relating to the temporal distortions. If you would like to come, please raise your paws now."

Yuri immediately volunteered, excited to travel somewhere to help out with the investigation. Jennings and several other Pokémon also volunteered, to which Kira nodded gratefully and informed that they will receive an expedition notification shortly.

As the Pokémon filter out of this meeting room, Yuri was approached by Jennings. "Hey Yuri." he greeted.

"Hey! You're going to Harvest Town, right?" Yuri asked Jennings.

"Indeed! I saw from the meeting you're going too. Excited? Scared?"

The Riolu made a very serious expression. "Both," was the only thing to leave his mouth.

"Me too. Part of me wants to get to the bottom of this, while another part really doesn't want to know."

"Exactly! I couldn't have said it better," Yuri agreed.

In a sudden spark of inspiration, he fished through his bag and pulls out his camera.

"Jennings, can I take a picture of you for my notebook? If that's okay with you, of course."

"Of course! Just be sure to get my good side!" he joked.

Yuri laughed, snapping a few photos from different angles. "You're doing amazing dahling," he said, mimicking some actors he's seen on movies. He showed them to the Dragonite afterwards.

"You're a good photographer! You may have missed your true calling!" he joked.

"Actually, I was really into art and photography before deciding my dream was to join a guild." Yuri puts his camera back into the bag. "If this somehow ends up not working out, well..." Yuri shrugged.

"I don't think you have to worry about that. You're doing great on your expeditions!"

Yuri and Jennings's tablets simultaneously chimed. They opened it to see that Kira has scheduled a briefing for the newly formed expedition team.

"Duty calls, I guess," he said to Jennings, "Meet you there?"

"Sure!" Jennings said, " I'll go with you."


	11. Chapter 11: The Plan

Yuri and Jennings were the first to show up at the briefing.

"Hey guys!" Kira said, A closer look at the fox Pokémon reveals that her fur was noticeably messy compared to her usual well-groomed look, and her eyes appeared visibly sleep deprived. "So... I'm in a Chesto Berry fueled haze from working day and night performing temporal analysis, so please forgive me if this briefing is more chaotic than usual."

"Trust me, with all of the work you and the other scientists have been putting into this, no one's going to judge you." Yuri gave an empathetic expression to Kira. "However, resting is very important and I highly recommend it soon as this debrief is done."

"I know, and and I would like nothing more."

Kira started her briefing a while later, once all of the requisite Pokémon had arrived.

"All right, first of all, you may or may not be wondering why I've been doing all the briefings and debriefings even though Ella is officially the leader at the Temporal Observatory. She has deferred leadership of this particular situation to me, since I have more experience with low-level sensor programming, engineering, and how artificial temporal interfaces actually interact with the time stream. Ella's area of expertise is more on the natural side of things. So you'll be dealing with me for this expedition, which... I guess take that as you will."

A few "congrats" and some quiet applause came from the attendees before the room immediately returned to attentive silence.

"So, in terms of accommodations, we'll be booking hotel rooms for everyone, and we've already booked an office space, which will serve as a temporary guild outpost for our expedition. The official time frame for this expedition is 'as long as it takes to solve the mystery, fate and safety regulations permitting'. As for what we'll be doing there, the area of extremely high temporal fluctuation is in a mystery dungeon, so we will be launching a standard expedition to it with the temporal sensors. In addition, we will also be doing some detective work..."

Cheers at the mention of hotels turned into excited whispers at "detective work.

"Perry has given the admins access to parts of the Pokémon Security Service's internal database, which contained incident reports of a former, and I am using this term broadly, 'guild' at Harvest Town. Their service area was very small and had no continental or intercontinental recognition, so it's not a surprise that no one here has ever heard of them. They did, however, have three CD0801 temporal sensors deployed when they were, at least officially, shut down."

The room went silent and the jovial atmosphere was replaced with tension.

Yuri raised a paw slowly. "Are you thinking that the Interface found in Mount Bristle possibly originated from Harvest Town?" He asked Kira.

"That's the leading theory. I've read the reports that the PSS has given us, and it's clear those Pokémon aren't your average, normal guild members. Blatant safety violations all over the place, anti-competitive practices, crime, you name it. They weren't a guild, they were a bunch of nutjobs that somehow got granted guild status."

"Ah," Yuri muttered.

"Anyway, there are suspicions that the former guild members are still active, and if they are, it is strongly believed that they are at least partially responsible for the attacks. Perry and the guild coordinators will keep us updated with new information, and we are to investigate the past and possibly present of Harvest Town Guild."

"What if the Harvest Town Guild is hostile?" a Pokémon asked. Some of the other guild members mumbled in agreement.

"You may have noticed that out of the volunteers, I have chosen a lot of strong, third-stage evolved Pokémon, more than the percentage of them at the guild. As much as I don't usually care for battling, I want that as a viable option if it becomes absolutely necessary. We will not be bringing lethal weapons, but we will have a supply of petrify and faint orbs, among other items for defense in the event of a confrontation."

The members in the room nodded in understanding. Yuri glanced around the room, noticing what Kira said was indeed true. Many Pokémon looked like they could take care of themselves in battle if the need arose.

"So, that's end of the briefing. We leave by hover train in two days, so don't schedule any expeditions past that. Your train tickets will be sent to your inbox, and we've booked a rental hovercraft when we get there. We went this route because we'd rather not have guild hovercrafts rolling into Harvest Town and alerting, well, everyone, of our presence. We want to maintain as low a profile as possible, because we legitimately don't know what to expect when we get there. Now, if there are any questions, please ask them now, otherwise, I'm going to head back to my quarters and make up three days worth of sleep in one sitting."

As the debriefing ends, Yuri took down a few last notes and stands up. He stretched a little bit before heading out of the room.

"Yuri!" Kira said as she ran to catch up with him.

The Riolu waited for her to catch up, surprised a bit. "Hey!"

"Funny story, my step parents actually live in Harvest Town, and they've basically ordered Leslie and I to stay with them on the expedition. How do we get out of this?" Kira joked.

Yuri thought for a little bit. "Um, tell them that you're in charge and that all of us are counting on you? Or pretend not to be there at all?"

He started to mock Kira's voice, "Ugh," he fakes a cough. "Looks like I've caught a cold. Can't come over to Harvest Town in this condition. Sorry... y'all."

"Honestly, yeah... I actually needed to tell them that I'm in charge and need to be easily accessible by the rest of the team. We came to a compromise, Leslie and I will stay with them on the first day there and on weekends." Kira chuckled, "By the way, the reason I'm telling you is because they have extended you an invitation as well! Leslie and I have been talking about you in our weekly calls home!"

Yuri felt the tips of his ears warm in embarrassment. "Well, I sure hope they don't think I'm weird!" he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I tend to get over excited about new things, but I'll try my best to be normal. I'll gladly accept their offer."

"I mean, neither Leslie nor I are considered particularly normal. You'll be fine!" Kira joked.

"Dear Arceus, I hope so!" Yuri joked back.

"Anyway... I need to go and sleep if I'm going to function properly. See you in two days!"

"See you!" Yuri waved at the Fennekin and went out for his errands of the day.


	12. Chapter 12: Train Ride

"Train 1904 to Harvest Town is now arriving at Platform 3. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready when you board." a computerized voice called out.

"Well, that's our ride!" Kira said as she fumbled through her work bag for her ID card.

Yuri, who was visibly nervous, grasped his pass and ID in his paws firmly. He muttered words under his breath, going over a mental list of things he brought with him.

The clerk at the desk checked Kira's credentials, then Yuri's, then Leslie's.

"Compartment ten, it's to your left when you get onto the platform." he said in a disinterested tone before opening the gate that leads to the platform.

Yuri mumbled a word of thanks and follows the directions given. As he walked onto the platform and snapped a picture of the train.

The Pokémon made their way to compartment 10.

"Well, we're sitting together again!" Kira announced to Leslie, Ella and Yuri, "Though, only because we're some of the only ones on the team with medium-body-size tickets."

"Hooray for being a functional size," Yuri said, half joking. "While we're all together, can I take a picture for my notebook?"

"Sure! Let's board the train first, don't want to hold up the line."

The cabin of the hover train was filled with a quiet bustle as passengers found their ways to their seats. Vacationers, business travelers and those returning home alike gave the late morning cabin an calm yet noticeably excited atmosphere. The four Pokémon sat down at their designated seats, Kira and Leslie sat at one side of a table, while Yuri and Ella sat on the opposite side.

Yuri took a moment to put his head on the table. "Suddenly, I am very tired," he said, vice partially muffled. "It's like someone used Yawn as soon as I walked in."

"Here's a Chesto Berry!" Kira said, using Physic to fumble through her bag, "Never leave for work without one!"

"Why am I not surprised? Thanks, though." Yuri took the berry and bit into it. "Definitely much better."

"I have three more if anyone else wants one! They're literally the life blood of a temporal researcher!"

The train shook as a mechanical whirring is heard. The group felt the train lift slightly off the track before starting it's gradual acceleration out of the station.

"Dear Arceus, it's moving," Yuri groaned as the train picks up speed. "Do you all have to do this often?"

"Usually we go by hovercraft since it's the same speed as the hover train, minus the rigid schedule, but there have been a few times where we've had to take the train. Usually when the guild is conducting a high-profile investigation, we don't want to make it obvious we're doing so, so we don't use the hovercrafts which all have the guild emblem embossed on them." Kira said.

"Do you get motion sick on trains?" Ella asked with concern.

"Motion sick, no. Scared of a painful death on the other paw." Yuri looked up with a pitiful expression.

"Scared about what our investigation will uncover or that the hover train will crash?" Kira asked calmly, preparing to comfort the Riolu after his response.

"Trains," he replied, slightly calmed by Kira's aura.

"If it makes you feel better, hover trains and wheeled trains are night and day when it comes to their safety reputations. Part of that is because the hover track system are so new they haven't had the chance to fall into disrepair like some of the less popular wheel lines have. To be fair, wheeled trains have also been getting better in terms of safety, it's just that they didn't do so well historically."

Yuri made a jerky nodding motion. He pulled out his notebook and a rock from his bag and sets it on his lap. "Okay, all better." He looked far from 'all better'.

"Yuri, if you would like to talk about it, maybe ask for some advice, please do so. We're here to listen." Kira said with a sympathetic smile.

"Thanks, but I think I can handle it, for now." The Riolu gave a strained smile and shifted the stone between his paws, eyes staring at some invisible object under the table.

"You know, if you're uncomfortable with the concept of riding the train and don't really want to talk about it, it might also help to go the other direction and keep distracted." Ella said, "Let's do some chatting since we're all sitting here! Want to learn some more temporal mechanics?"

"Sounds good," the Riolu replies. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and turned back to the rest of the group, smiling again.

"All right, what do you plan on teaching him, miss 'I just published my own textbook'!" Kira said jokingly to Ella.

Yuri's ears perked up. "You're published?" he asked, instantly excited. "Can I have your autograph?" The Riolu began to fumble through the pages of his notebook.

"I've published a temporal mechanics textbook, which only the nerdiest of physics students will ever care to read, but sure!"

Yuri handed the notebook over, sliding over a pen as well. He did a little dance in his seat.

Ella signed her name and returns the notebook.

"I can give you a digital copy of the book if you want!"

"Yes, please!" Yuri put both the stone and the now signed notebook into his bag, taking out his tablet in the same motion. "It isn't too much trouble, is it?"

"Of course not! Can I borrow your tablet?" Ella asked.

"Of course." Yuri hands the tablet over.

Ella pulled out her own tablet, and opened her file manager. She navigated to the folder containing the completed book, and tapped the "Send Wirelessly" button, selecting Yuri's tablet for the destination and tapping the accept button on the Riolu's device. A moment later, the book was successfully copied.

"I put it on your desktop." Ella said, "Feel free to keep it!"

Ella tapped the newly created file on Yuri's tablet, and the cover appeared in the document reader: "Explorers of Time: An Empirical Analysis of Modern Temporal Mechanics Through Physics and Mathematics. Written by Ella the Sylveon, published by the Science Department at the Treasure Town Guild."

"Thank you! I promise to cherish it forever." Yuri hugged the tablet.

"Oh, and speaking of cherishing, what's the story behind that rock of yours?" Kira asked curiously.

"My brother gave it to me, saying it was an everstone." Yuri shrugged.

"It does look like one, though I wouldn't know because I'm never getting to the level where I'm supposed to evolve." Kira joked, "It's looks well polished and taken care of though. So... why an everstone?"

"It was something about patience, power, emotional growth, and I'll know when I'm ready. It was a very long speech and I was still kind of young, but it was his present to me before he left."

"Makes sense. If you battle a lot, you might evolve before you actually want to." Leslie commented.

"Right. My family also like to say that I'm 'really friendly', but I'm not too sure how much evolution depends on close bonds anymore when I could just use an item." Yuri tapped a paw against his muzzle.

"Are you talking about the Evolve Orb they developed a year ago?" Ella asked, "If your evolution still depends on environmental conditions, like friendship, you still need to meet them. It just temporarily brings you up to the correct level."

Yuri shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I've only met two Lucario in my life and they both evolved the same way."

"Hey, when you want to evolve, go right ahead, if not, don't!" Kira said, "There's also such thing as a Rollback Orb now, and though it's expensive, it reverts compatible Pokémon back a stage so you don't even need to worry about evolving when you don't want to anymore."

Yuri nodded. "Noted. I do wonder what it would be like sometimes, but that's probably because I'm young and always dreaming. I'm very satisfied with my current stage, though. Have you all ever thought about it?"

"I already evolved." Ella said, "Have to say, I like the prehensile feelers I got! They're super convenient for carrying stuff!"

"Firestones are very rare, and therefore very expensive." Leslie said, "If I can afford one, I'd probably be rocking nine tales right now. I once accidentally bought a fake one, though, which really added insult to injury."

"So... Fennekins breathe fire while Braixens and Delphox need to use fire wands. There are definitely advantages to both, but I like the idea of paws-free fire generation better, especially since I have the Precision Fire TM which grants an extreme degree of control over how I generate fire." Kira said, "Also, I won't be able to digest twigs or spray superheated air out of my ears if I evolve, both are cool party tricks!"

"Makes sense. Hm, maybe I'll think about some when I'm older. Oh! I almost forgot about the picture!" Yuri took his camera out of his bag, grinning.

Ella leaned toward the table, while Kira and Leslie leaned in close to each other in order to fit in the frame, all three boasting wide, excited grins. Yuri laughed as he takes the photo. "Absolutely perfect," he said as he turns the camera to show the rest of the group.

"Ooh! Send me that picture, I want to show it to Kira's and my parents!" Leslie said excitedly.

The Riolu looked up to the Vulpix. "You're going to have to show me how," he said, going through the settings of the camera.

"Open your file manager and select the image file." Leslie said, "In the menu to the side, do you see a button labeled 'Send Wirelessly'?"

"Technology is amazing." Yuri follows the instructions, sending the image to Leslie. "See, now I'll have a good first impression on your parents!"

"Technology is amazing." Yuri follows the instructions, sending the image to Leslie. "See, now I'll have a good first impression on your parents!"

"I'm sure you will!" Kira said reassuringly.

"You know, Kira's been drafting her own textbook too!" Ella said.

"Really?"

"It's more niche than Ella's and it's not done yet." Kira said, "but would you be interested in pre-reading a guidebook for how to use TSIs?"

"Would I! Definitely!" Yuri clapped his paws, excited for the news.

Kira sent Yuri her book. "The cover is just a blank page with a label because it hasn't been finalized yet, and I still need to proofread, but the content is almost done."

The cover read "Digital Dialga: A guide to TSI and temporal operation, programming, and maintenance."

"Well, reading this might," Yuri paused, "take some time." He sent a smug look to the rest of the group.

"Well, after you learn how to work a TSI you can just rewind yourself to before you read it!, Kira laughed.

"You're not wrong," Yuri said, joining in on the laughter. "I really need a new hobby that doesn't involve jokes."

"Hey! You just got two textbooks sure to put you on the right track!" Leslie said.

"The chances that I'll be able to understand any bit of these are slim, but I will try my best. Don't be surprised, though, if I go around spouting my new lingo," Yuri teased.

"There is actually a running jokes in the temporal mechanics community to refer to 'what time is it' as 'what's the T1', because that's what we use to represent the present time." Ella said, "There's also the saying 'I'll do it at Ti' when refusing someone, because Ti represents the final point in time, which is generally theorized to be infinitely far away."

Yuri took out his notebook. "What's the T1. Ti... got it!" he mumbled as he wrote it down. "Well, I surely hope this train will get to Harvest Town before Ti." He looked pleased with himself.

"Oh, that's reminds me of a time when Kira used an absolute timeline to tell off a creep trying to ask her out!" Leslie laughed.

"I want all of the details, but I have no idea what an absolute timeline is!"

Ella showed Yuri an image from her book. It was of a horizontal line with three vertical markings, one on the left labeled T0, the middle one labeled T1 and the rightmost one labeled Ti. "It's just for formalization of 'all of time', past, present and future." she said.

"So this happened just last year when Kira and I were hanging out at a mall, and this thirty something Persian walks up to Kira and completely out of the blue asks if she wants to go on a date. Without missing a beat, Kira pulls out her tablet, flips to an image of an absolute timeline, casually explains what T0, T1 and Ti is, and then says 'this is when our date should be', and taps her paw on the table we were sitting at, past Ti on the timeline, and past the bezel of her tablet."

"Dear Arceus," Yuri giggled as the situation was explained to him. "Are you sure that stand up comedy wasn't your destiny?" he directed to Kira.

"When most scientists reach a certain age, they switch from active research to teaching. Maybe at that point I should just start booking gigs at the local bar!" Kira laughed.

"I'll be your first student, if only for a couple years," Yuri joked.

The group continued their chatter, and was eventually interrupted by a train-wide announcement. "Attention passengers, we will be arriving at Harvest Town in five minutes. The local time of arrival will be 3:30 PM, and the weather is clear." the train conductor spoke over the intercom.

"Wow, that was very fast." Yuri's amazement showed through his voice as he looked around the train car a bit.

"It's actually been almost three hours!" Ella said, "See how fast it seems when you're distracted?"

"Huh, I guess you're right." Yuri beamed at the Sylveon, pretty glad that the ride is almost over. "I'll have to find some other time to start reading your textbook, though."

"I'm sure you'll find the time. You have a long life ahead of you!" Leslie said cheerfully.

"Attention passengers, we are now arriving at Harvest Town. Please watch your step when exiting the train, and make sure you take all your items with you. If you have checked luggage, please proceed to the baggage area to retrieve them, and if you are connecting onto another train, please have your boarding pass and ID ready when you board. Thank you for choosing the hover train, and we wish you safe journeys in the future!" the conductor announced through the cabin's speakers.

Yuri had all of his belongings gathered in an instant, grateful for the train's stopping. "It's time, it's time," he chanted quietly, a little antsier than usual, but his smile from earlier remaining.


	13. Chapter 13: Harvest Town

As the Pokémon exited the train, they were greeted by an old looking Ninetales waiting on the platform.

"Kira! Leslie!" the Ninetales called.

"Mom!" the two Pokémon exclaimed as they ran to embrace the elderly Pokémon. Meanwhile, Yuri hang around about twenty paces back, allowing the fire-types their own time for a reunion.

"And you must be Yuri!" the Ninetales said to the Riolu.

Yuri grinned at the Ninetails, skipping happily in her direction. "Pleasure to meet you!" He bowed deeply before looking up again.

"Yuri, I am very happy you could join us." The Ninetales said to the Riolu before turning to the Sylveon, "And you're Ella, that I know. You four must be tired from your hard work at the guild."

Yuri just nodded, accompanied by a brief giggle.

"Well, you're both welcome to stay in our house and rest for the night. I know y'all have hotel rooms but I can't imagine that's more comfortable." the Ninetales said with a friendly smile.

"Only if it's no trouble to you," Yuri said sheepishly.

"Of course not! We're happy to be supporting members of the Treasure Town Guild since it's been so amazing to our daughters." the Ninetales gestured toward Kira and Leslie.

"Well, I guess there's no harm in staying! By the way, did you know that Kira and Leslie are really cool? I'm sure you did, but you must be so proud! They both have been helping out so much and when it comes to getting around the town, I'd be lost without them!" The Riolu began to ramble about the pair.

"They have always been that way. I'm glad it hasn't left them, though I'm proud to say I'm not surprised. Come on, the house is just a short walk away!"

Yuri followed the group, occasionally pausing for a brief moment to take a picture of their surroundings. "I don't think I caught your name," he said to the Ninetails.

"Martha" the Ninetales said, "No need to prefix it with 'Mrs' or anything, I never liked to be referred to formally anyway."

"Okay then, Martha it is." The Riolu went quiet for a bit before the group began to chat again.

The group made their way through the modestly sized farming community until they reached a large house in the suburbs.

"And here we are!" Martha announced.

"Is this where you live?" Yuri asked with excitement.

"Well, it's where Kira lived until she was five and where Leslie lived until she was seven, Leslie's two years older than Kira, in case you were wondering about the age difference. We moved to Treasure Town so they can attend a better school, but now that they can stand up on their own four paws, their father and I have moved back to this old house."

"That's so cool! So, which one did you like better? Big town or small?"

"The young ones loved Treasure Town, loved the sights and sounds and the atmosphere, but us old folk thought it was all a little too hectic, that's why we moved back once Kira and Leslie flew from the nest."

The Ninetales pulled put a set of keys from her bag and unlocked the door.

"Come in!" she announced.

"Oh," Yuri said, taking a few tentative steps into the door. Not sure exactly what to do, he lingered near the entrance, taking up a little space as possible while still standing. An instant later, Kira and Leslie run past him into the living room and leap onto the spacious couch in the center, in a manner one would expect from Pokémon with eggshells still stuck on their fur, not well respected physicists in their mid twenties.

"Yuri! Ella! Come on!" Leslie called out.

Yuri made his way towards Kira and Leslie, albeit slowly and with plenty caution. He decided to settle himself on the floor next to the couch. "So, how's the weather up there?"

"Please, make y'all selves comfortable." Martha said, "The couch is big enough for everyone!"

The Riolu shuffled himself onto the sofa with the other Pokémon. "Yes," is all he managed to say.

"Come on, Yuri!" Leslie said excitedly.

"Sorry, it's just that I've never really over someone's house before. I'm not too sure what I'm supposed to do," Yuri admits.

"Just pretend you're in the guild common area! Isn't that like a big houses with lots of Pokémon in it?" Leslie said.

"So, mom, is dad still running his construction business?" Kira asked.

"Of course! You know him, that job is his passion!" Martha said.

Yuri nodded briskly to the Vulpix before being distracted by the nearby conversation. "Your dad does construction?" The Riolu's eyes sparkled with interest. "What kind of things does his company build? Are any buildings in town? Will we see them later?"

"Well, he does contract work, mostly renovation. He's actually got a reputation that the things he fixes can last a thousand years, I guess because of the fact that Ninetales can theoretically live for a thousand years!" Kira said.

"Really?" He turned to Martha. "Is it true?"

"Yes. He's the Mr. Fix-It of Harvest Town! Why, I'll bet he's worked on the office y'all are using at some point!"

Yuri quickly took a note down. "Is it possible we can meet him while we're here in town?"

"He'll be back in an hour or two. I'm sure he will be very happy to meet you!"

"The honor would be mine." Yuri leaned back into the couch, paws occupied with adjusting the strap of his satchel. He took the time to observe his surroundings.

"In the meantime, would y'all like a tour of the house?" Martha asked, "It's been quite a while since we've had guests."

"I'd love that," Yuri replies, standing up from his seat.

"Well, what do you want to see first?"

"Anywhere! I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Well, let's show you the first floor first. This here is the living room, and the kitchen is right over there, through the dining room." Martha pointed.

Yuri inspected the area as each room is named. "What kind of cooking does your family like to do?"

"Nothing too fancy nowadays. Some bread and berries is mostly what us old folk live on.

"Sounds like home," Yuri said with his eyes closed in reminiscence.

"Well, when the young ones were home we'd have fancier meals, youngsters always want exciting flavors, but at our age, there's to be said about the basics. Now, what do you say I show y'all Kira and Leslie's old room? I tidied it up for their visit!"

The Riolu shot Leslie and Kira a mischievous smile. "I bet they're filled with science books."

"Actually, they didn't get into science until we moved to Treasure Town." Martha said, "The whole reason we moved was because as good as Harvest Town is, its schools were subpar and didn't teach much beyond what the law requires. Also, Kira was getting bullied because she was adopted."

Yuri's expression turned sour. "Oh."

"Well, here it is!" Martha showed Yuri to a square room with two beds.

Yuri peeked in from behind Martha. "Cool room. My brother and I shared a room too. It was the closest thing I ever had to a sleep over."

"Hey, Yuri, Ella." Kira called, "We should probably check in with the rest of the group. It won't take long, and we'll come back here after."

Yuri gave a little bow towards the Ninetails. "I guess I must take my leave now. Thanks for showing me around!" Yuri headed back to where Kira and Leslie are.

"Anytime! If you'd like to sleep over tonight, you are more than welcome to!"

Kira, Leslie, Ella and Yuri left the house and walked toward the town square.

"So, do you have an idea of the first things we'll be doing now that we are here?" Yuri asked the group.

"We'll check out the temporal focal point first." Kira said as they made their way into an outdoor plaza, "After that, we have some leads on the Harvest Town Guild."

"Kira?" a voice shouted, "Kira the Orphan?"

The group turned to see an Omastar moving toward them.

Kira sighed, audibly annoyed, "What?"

Yuri visibly bristled at the comment, eyes snapping to the offending Pokémon. "Are they bothering you?" He asked Kira under his breath.

"Dude." the Pokémon said to Yuri, "I went to school with this loser! She never got out of her 'I miss my mommy' phase, except her mommy never came to pick her up! Get it? Because her mommy's dead?" the Omastar burst out laughing, while Kira's eyes ignited with rage and Leslie donned a look of disgust.

Yuri took a slow breath. "Just how insecure are you? Not only are you making fun of someone for experiencing the emotional effects of loss, you're also an adult now. I guess your sheltered life never allowed you to grow up and it really shows. The rest of us," Yuri gestured to the group, "have adult things to do now, so I'd kindly appreciate it if you would take your childishness somewhere else."

"Why are you back anyway? You moving back in with her step parents because you finally realized you're the biggest loser in, where again did you go? Treasure Town?" the Omastar laughed at the Fennekin, "Kira, for someone who ran off crying after getting hit with a Water Gun, I can't imagine you've matured that much."

"Clyde..." Kira said after a deep inhale and exhale, suddenly appearing calm, "For the record, it is mathematically impossible for me to care any less about what you think. Les, Yuri, Ella, let's get out of here."

Yuri turned to leave with the rest of the group, seething with controlled anger.

"Now you know why we moved to Treasure Town." Kira said, "Not only did he use to make fun of me for being an orphan, he had a four-times type advantage over me, and you know I was and still am under-leveled for my age to begin with, so I couldn't even do anything about it." Kira sighed, "Arceus, it's just my luck that I run into him on the first day here since 20 years ago."

Yuri gave Kira a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry. If it means anything at all, he was a real jerk." He frowned a bit. "I just don't understand what prompt someone to be so callous."

"I wasn't his only target. He was like this to half the class, though I was by far his favorite target. His parents, if I remember correctly, used to be a big deal or something, so he got away with this kind of stuff because the school administration was spineless."

Yuri sighed a shook his head. "Awful."

"Look, let's not think about that. Sooner or later he will get what he deserves. Anyway, we're here!" Kira pointed to a rental office building.

"So this is the place. The new home away from home away from home. Or just temporary office, that's cool too."

"We're sharing the building with a paper and printer supplier, so we shouldn't worry about running out of stuff to write onto." Kira said lightheartedly.

Upon taking the elevator to the third floor, the group was reunited with the other guild members.

"Looks like everyone is here, just about," Yuri said as he scanned the room.

"Those that aren't here can still get the information they need when I post it in writing." Kira responded. She called to the room: "All right, everyone! Briefing time!" In response, Yuri found a spot in the room to listen, near Kira and Leslie. Ella did the same.

"All right, so you all know why we're here, so let's get right down to the plan!" Kira said, "Tomorrow morning at 11:30 will be our preliminary expedition to the temporal focal point, at the Salted Earth Plains mystery dungeon. We'll go in, make observations, collect some data, and leave, simple as that. We will send the information to the main guild, and figure out what to do from there. We have also scheduled an interview with a former Harvest Town Guild member. She has agreed to give a full description of the former guild's operations and her experiences there. Be nice to her."

A resounding "alright spread around the room. The guild members appeared to be in good spirits about the task at hand.

"Now, I'd like to introduce you to our medical officer for this mission." Kira gestured toward an Espurr, who stepped out of the group, "This is Doctor Maureen of the Treasure Town General Hospital. She's 27, so she's relatively new to the medical scene, but she is fully certified in not only general medicine, but also telepathic medicine. The latter is a relatively new practice where a psychic-type Pokémon uses telepathy to diagnose and/or heal certain conditions. That's pretty cool if you ask me."

The crowd clapped and cheered for the medical officer. The Espurr bowed to the crowd.

"Speaking of, those that want to go on the preliminary expedition tomorrow should see the doctor for a checkup. She's going to verify that you are not overly susceptible to temporal radiation poisoning."

Yuri made a mental note to make sure he gets checked out for the next day. Some other Pokémon turned to their neighbors, making plans in hushed whispers.

"Other than that, meeting adjourned! I'll post detailed plans and set up a team chat and data share in the guild's connection servers tonight. Get some rest, and tomorrow we'll start our investigation!"

Pokémon left the common area, most heading back to their hotel rooms. Yuri waited around a little for the room to start clearing before finding Leslie, Kira, and Ella.


End file.
